The man who allegedly shot dead a four-year-old boy at a recreational centre in Westdene, Johannesburg was appearing in the Newlands Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.

Captain John Maluleke said the murder charge against the man had been converted to culpable homicide.

"It was converted because he did not mean the kill the little boy."

The boy was shot on Tuesday at the Sunbeam playground and crèche situated at the intersection of Park Lane and 5th Avenue.

A 15-year-old schoolboy had been walking past a park next to the creche when he was robbed of his cellphone. The teenager ran home and told his father, who took his licensed firearm and went to look for the thief.

"They spotted the suspect at the park near the crèche and he began to run. They chased him and the father then shot at him, but accidentally hit the four-year-old boy in his upper body. He died on the spot," Maluleke said.

The dead boy was the son of a Pretoria police captain. He and his sister both attended the Sunbeam crèche, Maluleke said.

Paramedics on the scene initially said the boy was three years old.

Sapa