TRAGIC SHOOTING
‘THE GUN WAS LOADED’
South Africa has a well-known reputation as one of the world’s worst nations for gun crime. And the dangers of the proliferation of firearms was tragically illustrated in late 2019, when a senior barrister was shot dead in court in the middle of a trial.
Addelaid Ferreira-watt, 51, was leading the prosecution against five men accused of a violent home burglary in Kwazulu-natal Province. A key piece of evidence was a shotgun alleged to have been stolen from a farmhouse during the robbery, which was brought into the court by a police officer. As the officer was handling the weapon, it went off and a hail of pellets hit Addelaid in her left hip at close range, ripping a hole in her leg and knocking her off her feet.
Court officials desperately tried to stem the bleeding, but although she was rushed to hospital, the shot had severed an artery and she bled to death. The investigation that followed revealed a litany of incompetence. When the suspects were arrested, the shotgun was seized by police but later, with the approval of a local judge, handed back to the owners of the farm because they had argued they needed the weapon for protection. When the trial began, the police returned to collect the firearm and enquired whether it was loaded. The farmers replied they were not sure and it is not clear how the gun was brought into court without adequate checks to ensure it was safe.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate are now in charge of the case and will decide whether charges of culpable homicide can be brought. “We are going to be focusing on whether the policeman’s finger was on the trigger, or whether the gun went off accidentally somehow,” a spokesman said.