Juvenile gets suspended jail term

The juvenile who was aged 14 years when he committed the crime in December of 2009, had pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder.

However, Justice Ndou sitting with assessors Messrs Jameson Lex Dhlula and Wellington Takawira Matemba convicted him of a lesser charge of culpable homicide on Wednesday.

Presenting the State’s case, Mr Tafadzwa Mupariwa said on 19 December 2009, the juvenile and the now deceased, Dumisani Ncube, went to the grazing lands to herd cattle.

Mr Mupariwa said the juvenile and Dumisani were joined by two other juveniles, Tonderai Sibanda and Ratewell Ncube. The convicted juvenile, Ratewell and Dumisani were related as they were cousins.

He said at around 2pm, the convicted minor and his now deceased cousin started playing a game of hitting each other with sjamboks. Later on the convicted juvenile indicated to Dumisani that he was no longer interested in playing the game but Dumisani continued to assault him with the sjambok.

Mr Mupariwa said the convicted juvenile then threw a small axe at Dumisani, hitting him on the head, resulting in him sustaining a deep cut that exposed his brains.

Dumisani fell down and the convicted juvenile fled from the scene.

The other two juveniles, Tonderai and Ratewell went to the village to inform the elders about the incident but when the elders arrived at the scene, they found Dumisani already dead.