ANC deputy general manager Uriel Abrahamse, who shot dead a child by accident while chasing a cellphone thief, has successfully appealed against a five-year jail term.
The High Court in Johannesburg changed his sentencing on appeal to two years in prison, suspended for five years, Beeld newspaper reported.
He was also fined R10,000 and was no longer allowed to own a firearm.
Abrahamse killed a four-year-old boy while he was playing with other children at a creche in Westdene, Johannesburg in 2008. The boy was hit by a ricocheting bullet.
Abrahamse was chasing and shooting at a man who he believed had just robbed his son of his cellphone.
Abrahamse's son was walking past a park next to the creche when he was robbed. He ran home to tell his father, who took his licensed firearm and went looking for the thief.
He fired shots at the man but instead hit the child, who died on the scene.
Abrahamse pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2009 and was sentenced to five years, of which 10 months would have been served in prison and the remainder under house arrest.
But Judge Seun Moshidi said on Monday he did not need rehabilitation because it was unlikely that he would commit the same crime again.
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