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Mashudu Netsianda in Hwange
A 15-YEAR-OLD school bully who fatally kicked a peer (13) for jumping into a field of play and disrupting a football match, escaped the agony of jail life after he was sentenced to a wholly suspended prison term.

Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Nicholas Mathonsi, sitting in Hwange circuit court, convicted the boy, who cannot be named because of his age, of a lesser charge of culpable homicide.

He sentenced the boy to four years in jail, which he wholly suspended for five years on condition that he does not within that period commit a similar crime.

In passing sentence, the judge noted that the boy lacked maturity and parental guidance which is an essential element in the prime moulding of socially acceptable behaviour among juveniles.

According to a probation officer’s report, the boy comes from a broken family. His parents separated in 2002.

Prosecuting, Miss Namatirai Ngwasha said on November 25 last year at about 10.30 AM, the teenager was playing soccer at Samende Primary School grounds in Binga while the deceased was watching from the terraces. She said the deceased, out of excitement, rushed into the field and kicked the ball much to the anger of the accused.

“Accused was angered by the deceased’s actions and confronted him before assaulting him. He kicked him resulting in him falling headlong on a hard surface,” said Miss Ngwasha.

The deceased became unconscious and one of the teachers tried to render first aid but the boy was already dead.

According to the post mortem, the cause of the death is due to head trauma, universal subarachnoid haemorrhage and severe cerebral oedema.