The Mhala Regional Court in Mpumalanga sentenced an 87-year-old man to five years imprisonment after he was convicted on charges of attempted murder.
The name of the convicted and sentenced octogenarian is withheld to protect the minor involved.
The Mpumalanga court heard that in August last year, the mother of the 13-year-old boy was at work when she received a call informing that her son had been attacked.
The teenager had been attacked by his grandfather, at Marite Trust near Hazyview.
“Upon arrival, she (the mother of the teenager) learned that her father had shot her son on his lower back. The child was taken to a nearby hospital,” said Mpumalanga provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Donald Mdhluli.
The grandfather informed the child’s mother that her son “was very disrespectful hence he shot him”.
When police arrived at the scene, they immediately arrested the 87-year-old man, and the police also found about 87 live ammunition in the house.
“The suspect was brought to court and went on trial. He then got convicted, hence he was sentenced to five years imprisonment. The court also declared him unfit to possess a firearm,” said Mdhluli.
Meanwhile, provincial commissioner of police in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela has commended the investigation team, the prosecutors, and the judiciary for the collaboration which resulted in the sentencing of the grandfather.
“We hope that the sentence will serve as a deterrence to perpetrators of crime against the minors,” she said.
Last year, IOL reported that a 36-year-old man was arrested after he “accidentally” shot and killed his seven-month-old son with a pellet rifle at their home in Maololo, GaMashabela village under the Masemola policing area.
“Police attended to the complaint after the child's parents rushed him to the local clinic where he was certified dead on arrival, after he suffered a gunshot to the chest,” Limpopo police spokesperson Colonel Malesela Ledwaba said at the time.
“Both parents were interviewed and it was revealed that the child's father was hunting for birds with a pellet rifle next to their home when the child was accidentally shot.”
Ledwaba said the alleged killer, who is the child’s father, was arrested and charged with murder.
Police confiscated the pellet rifle.
IOL