A social media content material creator who drove a powerboat right into a flock of endangered birds at pace – then boasted of the seemingly deadly collision on Instagram – argued immediately that he shouldn’t be convicted of the crime as a result of it’d harm his skilled rugby prospects.
A choose, nonetheless, rejected 24-year-old Matt Jurlina’s request, as a substitute coming into a conviction and ordering him to pay a advantageous of $2500.
The Riverhead, Auckland resident was skippering his boat on the Hauraki Gulf close to Simpson’s Rock in September 2022 when he charged the vessel at an estimated 30 knots into a big flock of fairy prions, or tītī wainui, which had been resting on the calm floor.
“As it approached the flock the boat made no attempt to slow or deviate its course to avoid striking the birds,” courtroom paperwork state. “The occupants of the boat are heard yelling and laughing in the video as they pass through the flock. The video also included the text, ‘We f**kn love birds ay,’ and laughing emojis.”
An ornithologist who reviewed the four-second video for prosecutors famous that birds have been more likely to have been hit and would have both died instantly or died from hunger if that they had suffered damaged bones.
Jurlina, who chronicles his worldwide travels and outdoorsman actions to about 2500 followers on his public Instagram account, later got here to the eye of the Department of Conservation after a member of the general public alerted them to the put up.
“We were horrified by the video,” DoC investigator and spokesperson Dylan Swain stated exterior the courtroom at North Shore District Court this afternoon.
“It’s just a gross disregard for wildlife. These are animals that are in their natural habitat doing their thing, and to have a speedboat driven straight through the middle of them with no attempt to slow down or deviate course – and then to hear the laughing about it in the video – is extremely disappointing.”
Jurlina was charged with looking or killing prohibited marine wildlife, which carries a most punishment of two years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 advantageous.
In an October 2022 interview with DoC, Jurlina acknowledged he was driving the boat whereas additionally filming that day. He stated he didn’t discover the birds till it was too late, and he felt that sudden deceleration would put his 4 passengers in danger.
“I’d rather a few birds get hurt than a few people,” he stated within the interview, including of his determination to put up the video on social media: “I didn’t view what I had done as serious and potentially caused damage. I just kind of like done this thing accidentally, and then for that brief two, three, four, five minutes, thought it was a little bit funny.”
Defence lawyer Mireama Houra stated immediately that her consumer was very remorseful for his actions and reiterated her consumer’s view that he had no different alternative when contemplating the protection of his passengers. She learn from a chicken information noting that fairy prions are sometimes arduous to see on the water as a consequence of their colouring.
Houra identified that her consumer had in recent months performed for Croatia’s nationwide rugby workforce and has aspirations to play skilled or worldwide rugby each in Europe and for New Zealand. A conviction, she argued, would possibly stymie his potential by making it tougher for him to journey internationally.
But prosecutor Pip McNabb famous that Jurlina had beforehand been convicted in 2017, on the age 17, for assaulting a safety guard who had caught him and his pals trespassing. That current conviction, she famous, hasn’t dampened his potential to play abroad to this point.
McNabb performed the video, which has since been faraway from social media, throughout immediately’s listening to. Judge Kathryn Maxwell referred to it earlier than declining the discharge with out conviction request.
“I’m not entirely sure that I accept your position … that you did not intend to hurt or kill the birds,” the choose stated. “What you say appears to be at odds with what is clearly visible in that Instagram post.
“…You prioritised capturing the footage rather than slowing down.”
The incontrovertible fact that the offending was solely found after it was posted on social media underscores why deterrence for some of these crimes is so necessary, she added.
The Herald’s request for the footage performed in courtroom immediately was initially declined.
Swain, the DoC official, stated exterior courtroom immediately that it’s not uncommon “in the social media age” to obtain ideas just like the one which resulted in Jurlina’s conviction. He thanked the tipster within the present case and supplied a warning to others who put up crimes on social media.
“We do find out about it,” he stated.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist overlaying courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms within the US and New Zealand.
