A man in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region who mistook a couple for a pair of wild boars and shot one of them dead has been sentenced to four years in jail.

The local media reported yesterday that Lu Dugong, former deputy Party secretary of Xinjiang's Tacheng city, was convicted of unpremeditated manslaughter.

Lu and six friends went on a night hunting trip in Yumin county on July 26. Lu mistook watermelon growers Li Juan and her husband Zhang Yuchuan for wild boars, and shot Li dead and badly injured Zhang, the website Tianshannet.com said yesterday. .

The sentence was handed down by a court in the Ye'er Gaiti agricultural area in Xinjiang.

Lu and his friends took the couple to Yumin hospital where Li was pronounced dead on arrival.

Zhang suffered serious injuries to his liver and kidneys.

Lu paid Zhang 650,000 yuan ($95,000) in compensation in September and his friends paid Zhang 40,000 yuan in October.

Zhao Kai, one of Lu's friends and a Tacheng police officer, took an automatic rifle and 32 bullets from his police station without permission.

Earlier that evening, Lu did manage to kill a boar using the rifle.

Zhao was sentenced to three years' jail with a four-year reprieve for illegal use of the rifle.

(China Daily November 7, 2008)