Dad accidentally shoots and kills daughter in robbery

Johannesburg - A South African man from Centurion in Pretoria accidentally shot dead his young daughter on Friday morning when their house was broken into, Gauteng police said.

Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said the man was awoken by a commotion at his house on Glover Street.

"He went upstairs to fetch his firearm and while he was there, he heard the commotion again near the door. He fired a shot which hit and injured his... daughter," said Dlamini.

"She was taken to hospital in a critical condition, where she died. We have opened a case of culpable homicide."

Dlamini said the five robbers fled the premise with a handbag, which belonged to the man's wife. No arrests had been made.

Beeld newspaper reported that the father had heard dogs bark, went downstairs to investigate and spotted a robber in the house, in the early hours of Friday morning.

He ran back up to his bedroom, slammed the door and took his firearm from the safe. At that stage, his 7-year-old daughter had woken up and wanted to go into her parent's bedroom.

When she turned the door knob, her father thought it was one of the intruders and fired a shot.

He opened the door and found her lying there. According to Beeld she had been shot in the head.