Child, 6, shoots friend
A six-year-old girl from Bela-Bela (Warmbaths) shot and killed her friend, also 6, with her grandfather's revolver on Saturday afternoon. The grandfather, at whose house the shooting occurred, was so traumatised that he tried to hang himself on Sunday morning.
A six-year-old girl from Bela-Bela (Warmbaths) shot and killed her friend, also 6, with her grandfather's revolver on Saturday afternoon. The grandfather, at whose house the shooting occurred, was so traumatised that he tried to hang himself on Sunday morning.
He had allegedly taken his revolver out of his gun safe on Friday after robbers tried to break into his house. At the time of the shooting, the victim, Sibongile Moima, was playing with her friend at Lejwe La Metsi, a private game reserve where her father, Piet Moima, is the foreman.
"We do not know how to deal with this. We are devastated," said the grandmother of the six-year-old girl who fired the shot.
The grandfather would appear in the Bela-Bela Magistrate's Court on Monday, on charges relating to the negligent handling of a firearm, police spokeswoman Colonel Ronel Otto said.
She also said a murder charge was being investigated and would be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for a decision. The children are thought to have found the gun in a wardrobe, in the grandparents' bedroom.
- Sapa