Roberto Josi appeared in the Port Alfred Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on a charge of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Roberto Josi appeared in the Port Alfred Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on a charge of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
But Josi denies the charge, telling Grocott’s Mail that, “I definitely did not shoot anybody. The guy probably injured himself while playing on my property”.
Paddy Donnelly, a television production manager at Rhodes University’s School of Journalism & Media Studies, was shot in the ankle with a pellet gun in the Kap River Nature Reserve on Saturday. He was taken to Port Alfred Hospital where they surgically removed the pellet after having to locate it through X-ray. It penetrated through an inch and a half of the ankle.
Donnelly said that they were going slowly in a rubber duck boat with five people when they saw Josi making pointing gestures at them from a huge deck overlooking the river.
“I did not make anything out of it, I even gestured at him saying hello,” said Donnelly. But when Josi picked up what looked like a rifle with a telescopic sight on it, Donnelly said, “We knew straight away that things weren’t going to be lekker. He was standing next to his daughter when he shot at us. It was very bizarre” Andre Jourdan, who was with Donnelly in the boat, also said that he was initially not worried.
“I didn’t really think that he was going to shoot at us. I mean, you just don’t do that kind of thing,” said Jourdan, who is also Donnelly’s colleague.
Josi allegedly fired three shots and the second one hit Donnelly’s ankle. “I was like, guys, I have been shot,” said Donnelly, who added that it was horrible but he was calm about it.
An irate Josi said, “How would you feel if people came into your property and started playing games and drinking without your permission?
They were drunk and having a party; they even left alcohol bottles and litter on my property!” He added that he has also laid a charge of trespassing against the group.
Donnelly on the other hand, insists that he had not touched any alcohol on the day and that “there were no verbal altercations with Josi”.
He added that they actually picked up the litter that they found on the river bank where they had been relaxing and playing cricket with the children in the party.
“There is no law in South Africa that says anybody owns a river in a beautiful nature reserve, and even if he did; there was no signage that said we could not be there,” said Donnelly.
We got off on a jetty on the river bank that had no signs. The only signage that they saw, insists Donnelly, is one that says no guns allowed.
Josi was arrested on Sunday but was released on Monday on R3 000 bail. The case has been postponed to 12 October for further investigation.
