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

A man has reportedly been jailed after his homemade gun misfired and fatally shot his pregnant girlfriend in Victoria, Australia, in 2023.

Kiara Ferguson, 27, was six months pregnant when the gun misfired at her after she took the firearm from her 4-year-old daughter, whom she shared with 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.

On April 1, 2023, Ferguson and Winmar’s daughter had found the weapon inside their couch, causing Ferguson to confront her partner of 10 years.

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

Ferguson then placed the 12-gauge spring pipe gun on the tiled bathroom floor before it fired a single shot below the pregnant woman’s eye, marking “a stroke of terrible misfortune,” Victoria Supreme Court Justice Michael Croucher said at a court hearing on Friday. 

“She fell to the floor, mortally wounded,” the judge continued. 

Despite Winmar’s efforts to save Ferguson by calling emergency services and performing CPR, the mother of his two children died in their bathroom at their home in Shepparton.

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Winmar had reportedly tried to fire his gun in the past but had failed to do so.

Speaking about the father’s storage of the gun, the judge said, “It was a profoundly stupid thing to do.”

“Any loaded gun is to be treated as potentially dangerous, especially so when young children might get their hands on it,” he continued.

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Prosecutor Jim Shaw also previously told the court that Winmar said he was a frequent methamphetamine and GHB user.

He also allegedly had a long criminal history and committed several offenses after his partner’s death, including an assault and choking offenses, for which he served four months in jail earlier this year.

“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,” the judge told the court, adding that Winmar’s “extreme guilt and devastation” over the loss of his partner and being able to see his children was punishment in itself.

After serving time in prison, Winmar will be required to do 200 hours of community service and undergo treatment for drug and alcohol abuse.

Ferguson’s family said they were “utterly devastated” over her death and Winmar’s sentencing, per 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 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.”

PEOPLE has contacted the Supreme Court of Victoria for comment.