Posted on 11/20/2019 7:32:36 AM PST by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
A gun presented as evidence in a robbery trial has accidentally discharged in court, killing a prominent lawyer in a freak accident.
A prominent South African barrister has been shot and killed in court after a gun presented as evidence in the trial went off.
Senior state advocate Addelaid Ferreira-Watt died after the freak shooting at the Ixopo Regional Court on Monday when the shotgun dropped and blasted her in the left hip, News24 reported.
“It is alleged that the weapon was brought to court to be entered as evidence in a house robbery case when it accidentally discharged in court,” a police spokesman told the website.
Court staff desperately tried to stop the bleeding, but the 51-year-old mother-of-one later died in hospital. South African police are investigating a possible case of culpable homicide and are working to find out why the shotgun was still loaded.
“There is absolutely no need for a weapon being submitted in evidence in a court of law to still be capable of being fired,” a legal friend of Ms Ferreira-Watt told the UK Mirror.
“The weapon and the ammunition that it had contained at the time of the alleged crime should have been submitted in separate evidence bags, so someone is in big trouble. Addelaid was an excellent lawyer, a devoted mother and a lover of art and animals. For her to be taken away so cruelly and in such a freakish way is just agonising.”
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
The gun was just lying there having delirious dreams, and then it suddenly just went off and woke up with gunshot residue all over itself!
South Africa is one of the great tragedies of our time, wrought by the left through—largely—fake news and terrorism.
Apartheid was still ridiculous, though.
As stated in the original intent, it was meant to separate two diametrically opposed societies so they could live as they wished. Ok, on paper maybe there was some justification there, as native Africans had a much different society.
The problem was that whites still exploited the black population for labor and thus the whole notion of “separation” pretty much was a bunch of BS.
Some folks can’t see the forest fire for the trees....
I hope this is a trend.
It was a freak accident! The freak who took the gun from the suspect forgot to empty it and the freak who admitted it into evidence also forgot to check it for ammo.
“Apartheid was still ridiculous, though.”
Was it? Look what has happened since it was Borked out of existence.
“As stated in the original intent, it was meant to separate two diametrically opposed societies so they could live as they wished. Ok, on paper maybe there was some justification there, as native Africans had a much different society.”
Correct me if I was misinformed, but the black tribes involved in this were *not* the tribes living there when the Europeans arrived. They had no ancestral claim to the land.
The blacks demanding that SA and all its assets be taken from those who built it and turned over to them were guest workers who voluntarily came to SA as laborers. What moral or legal right did they have to demand ownership of the country and everything in it, and open season on any whites they might enjoy murdering?
“The problem was that whites still exploited the black population for labor”
Exploited? Exploited? The blacks came to SA begging for the chance to be paid for their labor. And what else are you going to do with a man who has a 65 IQ and no education? Put him to work in quantum computing research?
“and thus the whole notion of “separation” pretty much was a bunch of BS.”
The object was to protect SA from becoming what it has become.
What did this lawyer know about the Clintons??
An epi of a German crime drama had the boss, feet up, talking on a cell with the lead detective. He [boss] was absently playing with an automatic, evidence-bagged, fresh from ballistics, and manages to shoot himself through the foot.
And through a door.
And through a monitor.
But didn’t touch Sibel Kekilli.
Shades of Clement Vallandigham.
“...This was also the case with Colt single action revolvers from the 1800s,...” [Yo-Yo, post 34]
It was far more widespread: true of all Colt Single Action revolvers right down to those sold today.
Pretty much true of all revolvers, single action and double action, from the start of the cap-and-ball era (1836) until Colt’s introduced the rebound lever for their double action revolvers (1889 or 1892, I forget which), and Iver Johnson brought out the transfer bar on their revolvers (1890s?).
Manual safeties were rare until self-loading firearms began to appear (1890s). All original Winchester lever action rifles lacked any safety except the half-cock notch on the hammer (also called the “interceptor notch” - its original purpose was to intercept the hammer if it slipped during manual cocking); same with the M1897 slide action shotgun.
Single action revolvers became infamous. Handgun parts are of necessity smaller and more delicate, therefore more likely to break if the arm is fumbled or dropped. The sizes and shapes of the hammer and trigger on Colt’s Single Action are so small and so slender that they are springy: if a Single Action with its hammer pulled back to engage the first (”safety”) notch over a live round is dropped, the parts can give enough to allow the firing pin tip to set off the primer - without anything breaking. It became safer to leave a live round under a single action’s hammer when Ruger introduced a transfer bar on their New Model (Single Six, Blackhawk, etc) single action revolvers in the early 1970s.
Bolt action rifles are not immune.
Many owners try to “improve” their rifle’s trigger pull by tinkering, or installing aftermarket parts. They don’t always know what they are doing. Seriously unsafe conditions can occur with sporterized military rifles, when owners install “drop in” parts such as scope-compatible safeties or “better” triggers. Careful fitting by experienced technicians is required.
Additionally, former military rifles may be badly worn, made of lower quality materials, subjected to undocumented repairs or modifications, or merely aged in unforeseen ways. All of these point to higher likelihood of unsafe function or sudden failure.
Commercial rifles can fail also. More likely if the rifle has been out of the factory for many decades, has been stored under unusual or poorly documented conditions, undergone inexpert maintenance, or is badly worn.
Nice Move,
Clear before giving
To another,
Recipient Also Clears.
.
Easy Peasy.
They don't have the safeties of factory made arms, nor are they uniformly loaded or unloaded.
I strongly suspect this was a homemade/countrymade gun.
They don't have the safeties of factory made arms, nor are they uniformly loaded or unloaded.
I strongly suspect this was a homemade/countrymade gun.
Should have read through the comments, before commenting...
Dean,
I think You are
The only one that
Made the point that
The Firearm may
have been of
Inferior Quality.
Thanks !
There is a difference between an 'accidental discharge' and a 'negligent discharge'. Seems to have been more than just a little negligence involved in this incident...
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