Boy shot while cleaning car
The peace of a normal Sunday afternoon spent cleaning the car was shattered for the Pereira family of Ladanna when nine-year-old José was shot in the head with a pellet gun by an unknown person.
POLOKWANE – The peace of a normal Sunday afternoon spent cleaning the car was shattered for the Pereira family of Ladanna when nine-year-old José was shot in the head with a pellet gun by an unknown person.
José’s mother, Rita, said her son had been outside helping to clean the car, but he came into the house crying, and saying that his head hurt.
“At first I thought he had hit his head on something while he was taking the mats out of the car. It was only after I started cleaning the wound that I found the pellet stuck in his head,” Rita explained.
She said she went outside to look around in an attempt to ascertain who had shot her son, but she could not see anyone. “It is difficult to say where the shot came from as I stay across the road from an open field, so the shot could have come from nearly anywhere.
“I am just grateful that he was not looking up when the bullet hit him. He could have been blinded. I just don’t understand how people can be so negligent and endanger other people,” she said.
She said she had not reported the case to the police as yet.
Firearm expert and owner of a weapons shop in the city, Michael Jacobs, said in South Africa pellet guns with a calibre of less than .22 do not require a firearm license. This meant that most airguns on the market (usually with a calibre of .177), were easy to acquire.
“What most people don’t know though, is that even though there is no need for a license, the use of a pellet gun remains subject to the Firearms Control Act.
“What this means is that should you violate the Act, like firing the weapon in a residential area, you can be prosecuted and be given a very large fine or even serve some time in prison,” Jacobs explained.
Polokwane police spokesperson, WO Lesiba Ramoshaba said weapons should never be fired in a residential area.
He said firearm owners should make use of shooting clubs to practise their sport and not endanger the lives of people.
“The police have zero tolerance for firearm owners who are reckless; people guilty of this will be brought to book,” he warned.
He urged people to report any incidents in which a firearm was discharged to their nearest police station.
