KZN rugby player shot dead during hunting trip

Rainer Carl Wellman who plays for The Rhino’s, was reportedly out hunting with a group of friends on a farm outside Melmoth on Saturday, when another hunter fired a shot at a bushpig.

Wellman, who was behind the animal, was also hit, Zululand Observerreported.

eShowe police spokesperson Tienkie van Vuuren said a case of murder was being investigated.

“It was reported that another hunter had fired shots from a shotgun when seeing a bushpig, fatally wounding Wellmann,” said Van Vuuren.

Vuuren said Wellman was then rushed to KwMagwase hospital where he was declared dead.

Wilma Wellman, Rainer’s step-mother, said a pellet of the discarded shotgun shell punctured one of his lungs, Northern KwaZulu-Natal Courier reported.

“Rainer was not shot by a friend nor anyone. It was a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was a terrible freak accident,” she said.

Police spokesperson Major Thulani Zwane said no arrests had been made, but investigations were continuing.

He added that a firearm, allegedly used during the hunting expedition, was confiscated and would be sent for a ballistics test to establish if it had been used in the commission of other crimes.

In April, a man was arrested after accidentally shooting his son at a hunting expo at Gallagher Estate in Midrand.

The man reportedly went into a toilet cubicle with his son when his gun went off, hitting the boy in the chest.

The man later appeared in the Alexandra Magistrates’ Court facing a charge of negligent handling of a firearm and he was granted R2 000 bail.

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– Caxton News Service