A Nunavut man who fired a semi-automatic rifle at five people breaking into his home, killing three and wounding two, has had his murder convictions overturned.

In a strong defence of self-defence, a panel of appeal court judges declared a self-defence claim can be made even when three of the dead were shot in the back — one while wounded on the ground — and two who survived were shot while running away.

Although not calling it justified, the Nunavut Court of Appeal accepted that self-defence was a plausible defence that was tainted by the trial judge’s rulings on what evidence the jury was allowed to hear.

The appeal court ordered a new trial.

The dramatic shooting in January 2007 rattled Cambridge Bay, a hamlet of 1,500 best known as a way station along the Northwest Passage.

A feud between young men culminated in a confrontation at the small house of Chris Bishop, 27. At 3 a.m. Mr. Bishop called the RCMP saying men were trying to break in.

Long before help arrived, his front door started to give way to the kicking, and he retreated to his bedroom. He readied a gun.

He held what is called an SKS-D, which he legally owned. The semi-automatic rifle is supposed to hold only five bullets but Mr. Bishop fitted it with a 25-bullet “banana clip,” an illegal add-on that gives it a similar appearance to an AK-47.

The first man through the bedroom door carried a samurai sword. Another had a broken golf club.

The invaders’ aim was to injure Mr. Bishop seriously. Obviously a samurai sword can easily kill

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