Two British women are claiming they were shot by a hunter, who they later photographed, while walking along a path at the Ta' Cenc cliffs in Gozo on Tuesday afternoon.

The friends got away with minor pellet injuries as the hunter, they said, insisted that it was “an accident.”

“We were completely and absolutely shaken,” said Joanna White, 62, as she recounted what happened to Times of Malta.

“I have heard about shots being fired before and there being near misses but now, this is first hand. For goodness sake, please can we stop these hunters before someone gets seriously maimed,” she wrote in a Facebook post soon after the incident.

Joanna, a UK national who has been living in Gozo for six years, explained how she was about to have lunch with a friend visiting from the UK. Before lunch, they decided to go for a walk along the cliffs, close to the restaurant.

“We suddenly heard a shot that was really loud and we both jumped. There was a hunter standing there with his rifle pointing at the sky,” she said, adding that the hunter was standing about 12 feet away.

The women turned to walk away when they heard another shot. Soon after they realised they had been hit. Joanna was hit on the right calf while her friend was hit in the arm. The wounds were small but they were bleeding.

Joanna was hit in the leg (left) while her friend was hit in the arm.

Young, slim and with a black Mitsubishi truck

“The hunter started walking towards us. We just started shouting at him and walking towards him. While we walked I called 112 and took photos of him and his truck,” she said adding that as they repeatedly asked the hunter why he shot them he eventually said it was an accident.

Meanwhile, the hunter headed towards his truck and left.

“The man in question was young, slim and drove a black Mitsubishi truck and had a brown and cream speckled dog. I have pictures but not close up as we were worried he might shoot us again,” she wrote on Facebook.

Photo of the hunter who allegedly fired shots at the two women.

Why no police report?

The women headed to the Victoria police station to file a report, but were told that before they could do that, they would have to get a doctor’s certificate from the hospital to establish the nature of their injuries.

Joanna’s friend, who was leaving to return home the next day, preferred not to spend her last day at the hospital. So they did not.

But Joanna will be visiting a doctor to file the report.

“They have to make sure that that hunter does not shoot other people. Before we passed from there, there was a family with a young child. He could have shot them,” she said. 

A police spokesperson said that, according to procedure, before a person filed a police report claiming injury they had to visit a doctor who would certify the extent of the injuries.

Following police investigations, police would then charge the alleged aggressor with causing slight or serious injuries to the person filing the report.