KANOWIT: Police have reclassified the case of a 30-year-old man who died after he was initially said to have shot himself while hunting on Feb 20, as a murder case.
District police chief DSP Tega Bilong said the case was reclassified after a confession by a suspect, who admitted to accidentally shooting the victim, Patrick Nyanau, on the day of the incident.
“Following a pathologist’s advice after the post mortem, police conducted further investigations on the suspect, who later admitted that he accidentally shot the victim while hunting,” he said.
On the day of the incident, the victim and three friends including the suspect went hunting in Latong forest near Machan at about 8pm.
Tega said the suspect fired a gunshot after seeing an animal pass in front of him.
“The suspect and his friends immediately rushed to the victim and saw him covered in blood before sending him to Kanowit Hospital. However, the victim was pronounced dead due to severe injuries to the chest,” he stated.
The pathologist’s examination found that the victim’s wounds were caused by a long-distance shooting of about 10 metres.
Acting on the information, police detained three suspects aged between 19 and 31, to facilitate investigations into the case.
Police also confiscated a rifle, empty shell casings and firearms licences from the suspects. All three of them had also undergone a Covid-19 swab test and the results were negative.
Tega added that the case is being investigated under Section 304 (A) of the Penal Code for causing death through negligence.
