When the news about an Act MP being shot in the foot when he was 17 during a drug deal was released I did not think too much about it. But on reflection maybe there is a story here …
Two days ago Newstalk ZB and Barry Soper broke the story. The Herald followed. From the Herald:
An Act Party MP has admitted being shot when he was a 17-year-old after a drug deal involving his friend but denies being involved.
Simon Court said he suffered serious injuries and the shooter was arrested and charged.
He told Newstalk ZB he was on a camping trip “up north” and one of the guys he was with wanted to buy some “weed.”
They were told to go to a property and when they arrived his friend talked about buying some marijuana, Court said.
“I felt very uncomfortable with those people there and, ah I left.
“At some point later in the evening some people turned up at our campsite and put a shotgun in my face. My friend was with me at the time, he’d come back [from doing the drug deal].
“They demanded the key to our car and the weed. I didn’t know anything about it, I didn’t know where the keys were or where the weed was, it wasn’t my weed.”
Court said they had a “bit of a discussion with the people and they shot me.”
“They couldn’t find the keys or anything they were looking for and they left me seriously injured,” Court said.
As a 17-year-old he said he was like a lot of teenagers and didn’t always make good decisions.
“But I certainly didn’t think it was fair to get shot for making a bad decision,” he said.
David Seymour is relaxed and Simon Court is somewhat apologetic about the incident. From Soper’s Herald story:
“As far as I’m concerned, he hasn’t actually committed a crime. If he had, he wouldn’t be the only teenager in New Zealand that’s bought weed and he’d be only of the very few who’d got shot in the foot with a shotgun as a result,” he said,
Court, who is a civil and environmental engineer with more than two decades of experience, said: “It was a very long time ago … I made a bad decision but you know, like a lot of teenagers who made bad decisions, most of them don’t end up with any consequences.
“You know nothing happens and they learn. I certainly learned a lesson, but I also got shot, teenagers don’t deserve to get shot for making bad decisions.”
What is going on here? Has an Act MP decided to admit something that happened at least 25 years ago on a whim? Has a member of Act that is really hot on law and order issues thought it was a good idea to admit that he probably used to smoke a bit of weed when he was a teenager and got shot in the foot during a drug deal that went wrong out west? Less than three months out from an election and at a time that Act’s polling is really, really good?
My deep suspicion is that National’s dirty tricks department has dug up some dirt, offered it to the media and that Act in a damage minimisation response decided to front foot it. After all National has millions in the bank. It must be using at least of this money on digging up dirt.
My initial response is Meh.
My second response is I really hope that National’s and Act’s well funded campaigns go for it and attack each other.
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