Why was a loaded shotgun brought into a courtroom?
This is the question facing South African authorities after attorney Addelaid Ferreira-Watt was killed when a shotgun entered into evidence went off.
The gun, belonging to the victims of a 2014 robbery, had spent the last 5 years with the victims as opposed to an evidence locker because the victims claimed they needed it for home defense. Given that they’d been robbed they found a sympathetic audience, but South Africa must have some pretty screwy chain of custody standards to allow a key piece of evidence to stay with the accusers for years before trial.
News24 reported that the gun was being held by a police officer in Umzimkhulu Regional Court when it slipped from his hands and hit the floor. The shotgun released a shell into Ferreira-Watt’s left hip. She was rushed to the hospital but doctors could not save her life.
Speaking of the chain of custody, the victims say they don’t remember if the gun was loaded when they brought it back or not. That there’s even a risk that they may have carried a loaded gun to court should explode the myth of the responsible gun owner. While the idea that law enforcement then loaded the gun themselves while it rested in their custody may sound far-fetched, one might have thought it was inconceivable that cops would take a gun without bothering to check if it’s loaded, but here we are.
Unless South Africa is as irrationally devoted to protecting its law enforcement in the face of clear misconduct as the United States is, one or more officers connected with this should be fired and probably prosecuted for negligence. The owners may have left the gun loaded but that’s not an excuse to just sling it into a courtroom unchecked.
Addelaid Ferreira-Watt’s death was entirely preventable. Hopefully the powers-that-be recognize that.
LAWYER KILLED IN COURT WHEN SHOTGUN SUBMITTED TO EVIDENCE GOES OFF [Newsweek]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.