Father accidentally shot toddler in the foot

AN 11-MONTH-OLD girl was injured by a shotgun blast when her father dropped the gun, shooting a hole through a door and leaving a hallway riddled with pellets.

Joshua Rimene, 21, was taking down a shotgun from a cupboard at his Masterton home in December when he dropped the loaded weapon.

He managed to catch the gun as it fell, but simultaneously pulled the trigger.

The gun went off, blasting a hole in the door leading to the hallway where his 11-month daughter was.

The girl was struck in the foot by a single pellet and was taken to Wairarapa Hospital with a puncture wound.

Hundreds of pellets were left embedded in the floor and hallway wall.

Rimene was sentenced yesterday in Masterton District Court, after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of careless use of a firearm causing injury and one of unlicensed possession of a firearm.

He will serve four months’ community detention followed by nine months’ supervision.

Lawyer Ian Hard said his client was unfamiliar with guns and described the incident as a ‘‘freak accident’’.

‘‘He was absolutely mortified by that.’’

Rimene had been looking the weapon for a friend.

Judge Bruce Davidson said Rimene was unemployed and had been storing the weapon for a month without his family’s knowledge.

When the incident took place, he was looking to dispose of the gun and had asked his family to leave the house, which they were doing at the time.

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