Masvingo A 16-year-old boy from Soti Source resettlement area in Gutu yesterday escaped jail by a whisker after he was acquitted by a High Court judge of fatally assaulting his three-year-old niece.
At the close of the Masvingo High Court circuit, Justice Charles Hungwe, sitting with assessors Joseph Mushuku and Samson Mutomba, spared the boy jail after the State failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Justice Hungwe also said at the time of commission of the crime, the boy who was aged 12 then had no mental capacity to commit murder.
State counsel Elison Chabarika told the court that on December 12 2009, the boy killed the girl by striking her with sticks several times on the back of her body, neck and stomach as well as hitting her with the hard-shelled fruit on the head.
The girl had accused him of stealing a 750ml bottle of cooking oil.
Other agreed facts were that the teenager then kicked the deceased with bare feet on her face and back as a way of reprimanding her, before hitting her on the head with a monkey orange.
The girl started nose-bleeding, messed her panties and fell unconscious. The teenager then dragged her for about 20 metres and left her under a tree. She was discovered dead by her grandmother the following morning as the teenager was alleged to have threatened other children in his company if they reported the matter.
But the teenagers lawyer, Collin Maboke of Mwonzora and Associates, in defence, said the teenager did not have any intention to kill the minor.
