An Italian tourist was fatally wounded by a shotgun blast minutes after his shooting party were left unsupervised, a jury has been told.
Shooting agent Peter Bruce, 56, who organised the trip, told the court he had slipped away briefly to buy diesel and returned to discover Marco Cavola had been shot dead.
The trial heard accused Franco Moroni, 62, told a police officer he shot Mr Cavola in the back of the head by accident when the victim stood up as the trigger was pulled.
Mr Bruce said Moroni was not legally licensed to shoot at the time of the incident because the agent had temporarily left the scene of the shoot at Rossie Estate in the Carse of Gowrie.
He said Moroni had been a late addition to the three-man shooting party and had been covered by Mr Bruce’s licence while he was present.
However, Mr Bruce said he decided after 30 to 40 minutes of the group starting to shoot pigeons, to drive to Asda in Dundee to buy fuel.
‘Marco morto’
He told jurors he was just about to return when he received a “hysterical” phone call from party member Onorio Galoni to say something had gone catastrophically wrong.
“Just as I was coming back I got a call from Onorio.
“It was unclear. It was hysterical.
“I knew something had happened.
“He said the words ‘Marco morto.’
“He said these two words. Marco’s dead.
“I remember those words being said.”
Accused was ‘extremely upset’
Mr Bruce said he drove back to where he had left the party.
“Onorio was standing near to the hide.
“It’s just a messy memory.
“I was pacing up and down.
“It’s confusing in my head now. I think we called the ambulance.”
Asked what Moroni said, Mr Bruce said: “He wasn’t in a fit state to speak to me.
“He was distraught.
“He was hitting the tree with a branch and shouting.
“He was extremely upset.”
Left instructions for hunters
Mr Bruce, from Meigle, said he had known the victim for a decade and had organised a number of shooting trips for him and his friends.
He said the fatal trip had originally involved Mr Cavola and Mr Galoni but Moroni was added to the guest list less than four weeks before they arrived.
He said this did not leave enough time for him to arrange a visitor’s permit for Moroni so he could only shoot if he was covered by Mr Bruce’s own licence.
Mr Bruce said he had left Moroni and Mr Cavola in a small hide and advised them one should shoot “to the right” and one should aim “straight ahead.”
Moroni has admitted firing the shot which fatally wounded fellow pigeon shooter Marco Cavola but denies culpable homicide.
The jurors have already heard Moroni and Mr Cavola were in the same pigeon hide when shots were fired leading to the latter’s death.
‘I shot him in the back of the head’
PC Steve McEwan, 41, told the trial he recorded in his notebook at the scene of the tragedy: “One male, with head missing. Franco shot the male in the head by accident.”
He said Mr Bruce, who spoke Italian, had translated brief interviews on the estate with the two surviving members of the party.
Moroni was quoted as saying: “The deceased was standing in front of me in the hide.
“He crouched down and shouted ‘spara, spara’ [shoot, shoot].
“I took aim and pulled the trigger but as I did he stood up and I shot him in the back of the head.”
The officer said Moroni was “distraught, in grief, shouting the name of the deceased over and over again, and punching his leg.”
The charges denied
Moroni, 62, c/o Beltrami, Glasgow, denies killing Marco Cavola at Rossie Estate, Castlehill, Inchture, on March 25 2019.
He denies culpably and recklessly repeatedly discharging a loaded shotgun in close proximity to another person and exposing him to the risk of injury.
He denies culpably and recklessly discharging a loaded shotgun in the direction of Mr Cavola, whereby he was struck on the head by shot and gases from the shotgun.
The charge alleges Mr Cavola sustained severe head injuries and died as a consequence of his injuries.
The trial, before Lord Clark, continues.
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