Man Jailed for 3 Months After His Homemade Gun Misfires and Kills the Pregnant Mother of His Children

A man in Victoria, Australia, has been jailed after a homemade firearm discharged and fatally wounded his pregnant partner in 2023.

Kiara Ferguson, 27, was six months pregnant when she was shot after taking the weapon away from her 4-year-old daughter, whom she shared with her long-term partner, Adam Winmar, according to The Australian Associated Press.

On Friday, Nov. 28, Winmar, 30, was sentenced to three months in prison after pleading guilty to reckless conduct endangering life and possessing a firearm as a prohibited person.

The incident occurred on April 1, 2023, when the couple’s young daughter found the improvised weapon hidden inside their couch. Ferguson confronted Winmar about the gun.

“What have I told you about this?” she asked him.

She then placed the 12-gauge spring pipe gun on the tiled bathroom floor. The weapon suddenly discharged, firing a single shot below Ferguson’s eye — an event Victoria Supreme Court Justice Michael Croucher described during Friday’s hearing as “a stroke of terrible misfortune.”

“She fell to the floor, mortally wounded,” he said.

Winmar called emergency services and attempted CPR, but Ferguson, the mother of his two children, died in the bathroom of their Shepparton home.

The court heard that Winmar had previously tried to fire the homemade gun but had been unable to do so. Addressing his decision to keep the loaded weapon in the home, the judge was sharply critical.

“It was a profoundly stupid thing to do,” Croucher said. “Any loaded gun is to be treated as potentially dangerous, especially so when young children might get their hands on it.”

Prosecutor Jim Shaw told the court that Winmar had admitted to being a frequent methamphetamine and GHB user. He also reportedly had a lengthy criminal record and committed additional offenses after Ferguson’s death, including assault and choking offenses, for which he served four months in jail earlier this year.

Despite this history, the judge said he was convinced Winmar had learned a hard lesson.

“I am satisfied that Mr. Winmar is extremely unlikely ever again to have a loaded gun at his premises, let alone to store a gun in such a manner,” Croucher said, adding that Winmar’s “extreme guilt and devastation” over his partner’s death and the impact on his relationship with his children was a form of punishment in itself.

Following his prison term, Winmar must complete 200 hours of community service and undergo treatment for drug and alcohol issues.

Ferguson’s family said they were “utterly devastated” by both her death and the outcome of the case, according to the AAP.

“The minimal punishment handed down by Justice Croucher does not reflect the seriousness of the crime or the magnitude of the life that was taken,” they said in a statement after the hearing.

“Kiara was killed in an act of domestic violence — an act that was preventable, and final,” they continued. “Yet the sentence fails to acknowledge the full gravity of what was done to her, her daughters, to us, and to our community.”