Wellington - A New Zealand teenager who blinded his best friend when playing with a gun later lost his own eyesight in a "medical misadventure," a court in the North Island town of Hamilton was told, according to a news report Wednesday.

Tomene Shane Kidwell, 18, was sentenced Tuesday to eight months of home detention after pleading guilty to maiming his friend and illegally possessing a pistol.

The court was told that Kidwell fired at his friend during a game at his home near Hamilton, leaving the other youth permanently blind after several operations to remove pellets from his brain.

Defence counsel Mike Curran said that since the incident, in a bizarre twist, Kidwell had lost his eyesight through a "medical misadventure" and was now legally blind.

Passing sentence, Judge Melanie Harland called the shooting an extremely tragic case as a result of youth, inexperience and foolishness, and an example of why guns should be restricted. (dpa)