Man accused in workplace nail-gun shooting pleads not guilty

A man accused of shooting a co-worker with a nail gun at a Pictou County worksite last fall has pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon.

A trial for Shawn Wade Hyneswas set MondayinPictou provincial court for Sept. 17 to 19.

The victim, Nhlanhla Dlamini, previously told CBC News he was at a construction site in Abercrombie, N.S., when Hynes accused him of working too slowly before aiming an air-powered nail gun at him, pulling back the safety and firing.

Dlamini's mother, Stacey Dlamini, said her family welcomes the opportunity to have the court determine what happened.

Nhlanhla Dlamini required emergency surgery after his lung was punctured with a 3-inch framing nail and he was hospitalized for four days.

Dlamini, who is black, has said the Sept. 19 shooting came after weeks of racially charged harassmentby Hynes.

In his three weeks on the job before the incident, Dlamini said Hynes called him "Squigger," threw nails at him, hammered his booted foot and stapled his jacket to a staircase.

Dlamini said at one point Hynes told him everyone should own a black person.

Protesters called for more serious charges to be laid in the case last fall.

The assault with a weapon charge was added earlier this month. It was in addition to the criminal negligence causing bodily harm charge, which was laid last October.

Dlamini, who said he was the victim of racial discrimination in the workplace, recently reached a Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission settlement with his former employer P.Q. Properties Ltd. and the company's owner Paul Quinn.

As part of the settlement, all P.Q. Properties employees will receive human rights training.