Richard Cathcart was ordered to pay $600 for handling and using a firearm under the influence of alcohol, after pleading guilty to the offence.

The 45-year-old had been working shifts in the form of 12 days on, two days off during the harvest season, when he returned home following a 14 day stint.

The court heard Cathcart had been drinking before the incident and became intoxicated when a neighbour’s dog entered his property.

Dogs had been barking and trying to come onto the property because, according to Cathcart, one of his dogs was in heat. 

When the dog came close, Cathcart admitted to trying to wrestle a firearm away from his son before gaining control of the rifle and shooting at the dog.

Defence solicitor Rod Watt said his client had used an expletive term to describe where he wanted to shoot the dog, clarifying it was in the derriere.

Mr Watt said the “barking dogs got to him (his client)” and while he did notinjure the dog, Cathcart shot in its vicinity.

Magistrate Shaughan McCosker said it was his understanding the dogs had “worn him [Cathcart] down over a period of time” and he had not coped because of the amount of alcohol he had drunk.

However, Magistrate McCosker said the matter was by no means trivial and why there were strict firearms regulations in place.