Eveline de Klerk
Walvis Bay-A six-year-old girl lost her left eye in a tragic shooting accident on Friday evening in Kuisebmond, Walvis Bay. A 10-year-old boy accidently shot the girl when he was playing with his father’s pistol.
According to the Erongo Regional Police Deputy Commissioner, Ottilie Kashuupulwa, the two children were left alone in the home of the father of the 10-year-old boy. The father, a fisherman had apparently gone to sea to work. He had left on the same day as the shooting. New Era could not establish whether the children are related or the mother’s whereabouts.
“Information gathered by us indicates that the boy got hold of his father’s safe’s key that was left in a wardrobe. He managed to open the safe and took out the pistol,” Kashuupulwa explained.
She said it seems that a shot accidently went off while the boy was handling the firearm and the bullet struck the girl in her left eye. The girl was rushed to hospital in Walvis Bay, where her condition was declared critical and she was then transferred to Windhoek. Doctors did everything possible to save her life but sadly could not save her eye. She is currently recuperating in hospital. Doctors were unable to remove the bullet from her skull.
“It was indeed a tragic incident and the shooter himself is a minor who cannot be directly arrested. We will investigate the incident, compile a report and forward it to the prosecutor general for a final decision [on whether or not to prosecute],” Kashuupulwa told New Era yesterday.