A 72-year old pensioner, Ian Douglas Carlisle was this week sentenced to a year in prison for shooting a 51-year -old man he found fishing at Tati River on July 15, 2017.
According to court papers, the Zimbabwean pensioner was charged with a single count of unlawful wounding after shooting Biki Tshetlha on the knee.
It was heard that on that fateful day, Tshetlha was fishing with his friends when they were approached by Carlisle and his employees and asked to leave.
Carlisle claimed that the river was inside his farm and therefore the fishermen were trespassing.
The complainant and his friends ignored the order to leave and continued fishing.
This infuriated Carlisle and a scuffle ensued.
It is reported that Carlisle tried to grab Tshetlha who in turn pointed at him with a spear that he was using to fish.
In the process, Carlisle hit him with the back of the gun and he fell inside the water.
He immediately stood up and hit the pensioner with the wooden stick of the spear.
As the brawl continued Tshetlha fell inside the river again and Carlisle fired a shot inside the water and it hit the complainant on the knee.
Carlisle immediately rushed him to the hospital where he was bedridden for three weeks as a result of a gunshot wound.
When testifying, Carlisle said prior to the incident he had problems with trespassers, poachers and people fishing in the river.
Before passing sentence, Magistrate Tshepo Magetse indicated that the accused was wrong to fight with the complainant because he does not even own the river as he claimed.
“The gun shot force used against a man armed with a wooden log was way too excessive. I here in find the accused guilty for unlawfully wounding the complainant. The accused is therefore sentenced to two years in prison, with one year suspended,” closed Magetse.
Parties were advised of their right to appeal to the High Court within six weeks if dissatisfied with the sentence.
