Charges laid after girl,15, accidentally shot

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A man has been charged with careless use of a firearm after a 15-year-old girl was accidentally shot in the abdomen in Rolleston, southwest of Christchurch.

The girl was inside a house when a pistol was discharged from an adjoining garage on Monday night.

"When it's [the pistol] discharged, it's [the bullet] gone through the garage into the house and ricocheted off a fridge," Detective Sergeant Ross Tarawhiti, of Southern CIB, told The Press.

The girl suffered non-life threatening injuries and was taken to hospital.

A male relative has since been charged with careless use of a firearm and is due to appear in Christchurch District Court on June 20.

New Zealand Mountain Safety Council firearms and hunter training programme manager Mike Spray said in the past 10 years there had been 24 "non-intentional" firearms deaths.

"Ten of those are because the firearm was loaded when it shouldn't have been."

The girl was in a comfortable condition in Christchurch Hospital yesterday and was due to be discharged this morning, a Canterbury District Health Board spokeswoman said.

- NZPA