Lawyer dies in court after exhibit gun went off

 

Lawyer dies in Court after exhibit gun went off

Adelaide Ferreira-Watt, a prosecutor in a house robbery case in South Africa’s Ixopo regional court has died of her gunshot wounds.

She died after an exhibit gun brought into the court as evidence went off and hit her in KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa, police say.

Adelaide Ferreira-Watt succumbed to her wounds just hours after the shotgun hit her in the hip inside Ixopo regional court.

The gun went off as it was being presented to the court as evidence in a house robbery case.

Police say they are investigating Ms Ferreira-Watt’s death as a case of manslaughter.

They will also look into why the gun was loaded and whether appropriate steps had been taken to ensure the gun was safe to carry in a public space.

There are more than five million firearms in South Africa according to a weapons watchdog