Scarred for life

Seven year old, Simnikiwe Kanise was shot dead in the chest by a fellow playmate in the location of Kwanobuhle two months ago. The shooter was his three year old neighbor who remained unnamed for safety reasons as he is a minor. The children had been playing around with the three year old’s grandfather’s gun when it accidently went off and hit Kanise in the chest causing his death. The grandfather rushed to where the kids had been playing after hearing the gun shot to find Simnikiwe lying on the ground. Before dying, Simnikiwe muttered that he had been shot as he had not been bleeding yet. He was taken in the kitchen where he died in the man’s arms while waiting for an ambulance.

The children had been playing without any adult supervision as the grandfather had been in the bathroom, the grandmother sleeping in the next room and the 21 year old mother had been out when the tragedy occurred. The mother of the three year old came to find her son crawled in a corner shaking by what he had done, though he was not fully aware of the consequences of his actions, he was able to grasp the magnitude of his actions.

Uitenhage Police Communications Department Representative, Mariet Olivier confirmed that the three year old along with his friends have started counseling and not one of them has missed any of their sessions. She added that the three year will be paid close attention to as he was the one who pulled the trigger “a psychologist has to monitor how severe the effects of the shooting are and to try and prevent any disturbances in the boy’s psyche”. When shooting is involved it is always important to get psychological support because the children involved could suffer from post-traumatic stress and if unmonitored, the results could end badly for the children. They could suffer from social detachment or other psychological disorders.

Uitenhage Senior Prosecutor opened a case of negligence against the grandfather, no arrests have been made as the prosecutor is still collecting evidence and building a case against the grandfather.  On the one hand residences threw stones at the home of the three year old after rumors circulated that the boy’s grandfather had beat up the child after the accident. Close sources say “we are not angry at the boy but rather the grandfather for beating up the child because none of this would have happened if he had been more careful with the placement of his weapon” added the source. No further incidents have been reported and no harm has come to the children involved as well as their families.  

Nomazima Nkosi