Pregnant mum shot dead in freak accident after daughter, 4, found gun in sofa

A pregnant mum died in a “profoundly stupid” freak accident after her four-year-old daughter found a loaded homemade gun in the family sofa, landing the dad in jail.

Kiara Ferguson, 27, was six months pregnant when her little girl discovered the firearm hidden in the cushions. The mum took the gun and marched over to the bathroom to confront the dad.

“What have I told you about this?” she said to her boyfriend, Adam Winmar. She then dropped the weapon on the tiled floor. In what the judge described as a “stroke of terrible misfortune”, the gun fired a single shot which struck just beneath the eye.

Winmar attempted CPR and phoned paramedics but she died on the bathroom floor on April 1, 2023. The weapon that spelled tragedy for the family of four in Victoria, Australia was a makeshift 12-gauge spring pipe weapon. 

Judge Croucher determined that Winmar storing the weapon in such an easily accessible place was a “profoundly stupid thing to do” and had endangered the life of his family. “Any loaded gun is to be treated as potentially dangerous, especially so when young children might get their hands on it.”

Winmar had a lengthy criminal history and a drug habit. He frequently took methamphetamine and GHB, and assault and choking offences had given him a four-month sentence in jail this year.

Judge Croucher decided that the experience of losing his partner and not being able to see his children, as well as “extreme guilt and devastation”, had served as a form of punishment. Upon his release, he must do 200 hours of community work and attend rehab for drug and alcohol abuse.

The judge added: “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.”