13 May 2021

Sehithwa police station commander, Superintendent Nshaki Mabophiwa has advised gun owners to keep them safe and out of reach of children. He said in an interview that recklessness and negligence in handling guns were a concern in his policing jurisdiction despite efforts to sensitise gun owners on their safe keeping.

Before issuance of the guns, Supt Mabophiwa said, owners  were drilled on safety measures but they experience incidents where people recklessly leave guns loaded hence they end up discharging and accidentally hurting or killing someone. Keeping guns safe, he said should be a key concern for anyone who owns a firearm, adding that guns could be dangerous without the right precautions.

Supt Mabophiwa noted that they had recently recorded two separate incidents where loaded guns accidentally discharged and caused death and harm.

The first incident, he said took place at Mmakebane cattle post, in the outskirt of Toteng, where a 17-year-old boy mistakenly shot to death a 50-year-old man.

Narrating the story, he said the suspect together with the father and son left home carrying two loaded guns, a pellet and short gun, in the vehicle on a mission to relocate their livestock to another settlement.

Along the way, he said the father stopped the car and went off with a pellet gun leaving his son with the other gun in the car. Supt Mabophiwa said after some few minutes his son took the gun which accidently discharged and hit the deceased on the head.

He said the father came back after hearing a  loud noise and rushed the victim to Toteng clinic, who was then referred to Letsholathebe Memorial hospital in Maun and later died.

According to the Sehithwa police chief, the second incident involved an eight-year-old girl whom he said accidentally discharged the gun, hurt herself and damaged her parents’ vehicle at Ditoro cattle post near Bodibeng .

Supt Mabophiwa explained that it was reported that a 44-year-old man together with his wife, son aged 10 and daughter 8 went out to hunt guinea fowls. Along the way, the family stopped the vehicle and both parents and their son went off leaving the daughter behind.

The little girl, according to Supt Mabophiwa mistakenly touched the loaded gun which was on the back seat and it discharged, scratched her shoulder and damaging the vehicle windscreen.

He noted that they had another unfortunate incident towards the end of last year in Sehithwa where a gun was kept behind the seat in a vehicle and discharged but fortunately, no one was hurt.

Such issues, he said were worrisome and urged gun owners to exercise vigilance when handling guns.

Meanwhile Sehithwa police are investigating an incident in which a decomposed body of a 36-year-old woman was found hanging from a tree in the bush, a kilometer away from Tsau.

Supt Mabophiwa said  the deceased was reported missing on  April 41 and was found by some farmers who were searching for their livestock this week.

It was alleged that the deceased could have used a shoe lace to hang herself. He revealed that the family of the deceased, who originated from Semboyo managed to identify her and the deceased did not leave any message. Ends