Philipsburg:--- The police have arrested the step father of the six year old girl who was shot Sunday night by her younger brother in Garden of Eden, Dutch Quarter. SMN News learnt that police are trying to piece together exactly how the shooting occurred because it appears as though the mother of the child has given police conflicting information. A source close to the family said the two children were fighting and the younger brother took up a hunting rifle that his step father has in the house and shot his sister in her face. It is understood that the mother of the two children was trying to cover up the incident when she told both medical personnel and police that the child accidentally shot herself. The source said that the doctors confronted the mother because the six year girl received the gunshot in the frontal area of her face which could not have happened if she accidentally shot herself, it is also understood that the mother claimed she was not at home when the incident occurred but it later turned out that she was cooking when the shooting took place. SMN News further understands that the child's step father turned himself in at the Police Station on Sunday evening when he learned of the incident. The source said that the gun (hunting rifle) belongs to the man's father who is blind. They said because elderly man is blind his son took the weapon to his home because he believed it would have been in a safer place. Chief Prosecutor Hans Mos confirmed that someone was arrested and that the weapon is a hunting rifle. Mos said owners of such weapons must have a firearm license.
