ZIMBABWE: SUPREME COURT QUASHES YOUTHFUL KILLER'S DEATH SENTENCE

July 30, 2012: In Zimbabwe, a convicted murderer had his death sentence quashed by the Supreme Court which ruled that he was too young for the hangman’s noose.
Elson Munsaka was 17 when he struck his employer with an axe on the neck just hours after being offered a job as a herd boy on April 27, 1999.
He went on trial nine years later in 2008 now aged 26 and was sentenced to death by a High Court judge.
But Supreme Court justices Luke Malaba, Anne-Marie Gorowa and Meshack Cheda said the High Court judge had erred in imposing capital punishment as Munsaka’s age at the time of committing the crime was an extenuating circumstance.
The Supreme Court referred the case back to the High Court for new sentencing.
Munsaka was sentenced to death for the murder of Fidres Sibanda, of Gcekeni Village in Tsholotsho. (Sources: newzimbabwe.com, 30/07/2012)