Tourist who killed friend on hunting trip cleared

Franco Moroni was cleared of culpable homicide

An Italian tourist who shot and killed his lifelong friend during a pigeon-hunting trip to Scotland has been cleared of culpable homicide.

A jury took just 30 minutes to find Franco Moroni not guilty.

Mr Moroni, 62, admitted killing Marco Cavola by blasting a shotgun at the back of his head at point-blank range.

The tourist from Loriano, near Rome, told the trial his friend stood up in front of him the moment he pulled his shotgun trigger while shooting pigeons.

Mr Moroni said he was filled with shame after the incident on the Rossie Estate in Inchture, near Dundee in 2019.

He said it had completely changed his life and had turned him into a virtual recluse.

It can now be reported that the shooting agent who organised the trip had already been fined nearly £5,000 for health and safety breaches and for supplying the fatal weapon to an unlicensed shooter.

During the week-long trial, Mr Moroni said he and Mr Cavola - who had been a childhood friend - were keen porcini mushroom collectors in the woods near their home in the Rome region.

He said Mr Cavola and fellow holidaymaker Onorio Galoni were keen hunters and had persuaded him to join their pigeon shooting trip to Scotland.

Mr Moroni said he had shot two or three times but was not a hunting expert.

Marco Cavola was a keen porcini mushroom collector

He said the trio were met by local sporting agent Peter Bruce and had a brief shooting outing on the day they arrived.

The tragedy occurred the following day.

Moroni said the group were taken to the estate and were each given a shotgun and a warning not to aim towards the road when firing the weapons. He said no further instruction was given.

Mr Moroni and Mr Cavola were placed together in a hide.

The jury had already heard how having two shooters together in the same hide could be "extremely dangerous".

Mr Moroni told the trial: "At a certain point, a bird came across. Marco shot three times. He then told me 'shoot, shoot, shoot' and then he got down.

"At that point I rose to my feet and shot and then he also got up at that point. He did the movement so quickly - lowering himself and getting up again.

"As I was turning I shot him. It was a complete tragedy. Everything was happening. I was screaming for Onorio."

Sgt Ian Borthwick told the court Mr Moroni was "extremely distraught, distressed, in a state, shouting and wailing" as he was being interviewed.

Shooting agent Peter Bruce, 56, told the court he had slipped away briefly to buy diesel and returned to discover Mr Cavola had been shot dead.

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.

After learning of the verdict, Mr Cavola's wife Sara released a translated statement through her solicitor.

She said: "I understand it was an accident but this decision is absurd."

"How should I explain this to our daughters and to our son who is still very young?

"How should I explain to them the man who killed their dad is now out from court with no consequences for what he did?

"This is wrong."