How we tried to save our son

Saturday 16th January 2010, 3:00PM GMT.

Roberto and Luisa Calaça-Sousa found their son with blood pouring from his back Picture: JON GUEGAN (00868659)

TWO heartbroken parents have told how they desperately tried to save their dying son after he was accidentally shot while playing at his aunt’s house in South America.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the tragedy, Roberto Calaça-Sousa described how he discovered eight-year-old Joao with blood pouring from his back seconds after a gunshot rang out through the property.

Joao, a pupil at St John’s Primary School, was hit by a bullet as he played in a bedroom with his two cousins just hours after arriving at the house near the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.

It is still not known whether Joao accidentally shot himself or whether one of the other children mistakenly pulled the trigger after they found the firearm hidden in the room.

• The full interview is published in today’s Jersey Evening Post

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