Woman shot in the head with air rifle after argument over seagulls

Ms Brown was shooting at the seagulls in the early hours

A WOMAN was shot in the head with an air rifle at point-blank range after an argument over seagulls.

 

Samantha Brown, 25, fired at her neighbour Mary Johnson when she asked her to stop shooting at the birds.

The shot has left Ms Johnson partially deaf, with numbness on the right side of her head and with sinus problems, a court heard.

According to an expert she could have died if the pellet had been just a few centimetres lower.

Ms Johnson was playing a game in the early hours of July 5 when she heard her dog barking and a 'ping-ping' noise, Inverness Sheriff Court heard.

She then saw her Sam Brown, of Mansefield Estate in Tain, "with a gun and shooting the gulls".

 

The case was heard at Inverness Sheriff Court

She challenged her about it and warned her she would call the police.

The court heard that her neighbour then turned around, pointed the rifle at her and said she would shoot her.

Ms Jonhson said: "I asked her to put the gun down and the next thing was she shot me. Then she said she was going to shoot me again.

"I was only five feet away from her but I didn't realise she had hit me until I put my hands up to my head and saw the blood.

"It was running down my face. It was like someone had set my head on fire.

 

"The hole in my head was just an inch above my right eye."

Police raced to the scene and Mary was treated in hospital for 14 hours.

The pellet remains in her head and could be there for the rest of her life after doctors said they would have to fracture her skull to get it out.

Brown was remanded in custody after pleading guilty to discharging the weapon, injuring Ms Johnson to her permanent impairment, disfigurement and danger of life.

Sentence was deferred until September 1 for a background report.