A NDOLA High court has acquitted a 12-year old girl who allegedly slapped to death her friend over a guava fruit.
High Court Justice Mary Mulanda acquitted the juvenile offender after finding her not guilty of manslaughter.
The particulars of the offence were that the Juvenile offender on February 24, this year, unlawfully caused the death of a nine year old boy. She pleaded not pleaded guilty to the charge.
In passing the judgement, Ms Justice Mulanda said she critically examined the medical report and noted that the cause of death of the deceased was acute heart failure due to aortic stenosis which was explained as a sudden heart attack by a medical doctor.
She said one of the witnesses, a medical Doctor who conducted a postmortem from Ndola Central hospital explained that aortic stenosis was a condition that a person is born with and that it had no symptoms.
“The doctor testified that people who have this type of diseases look healthy and have an active life and that you cannot suspect that you have such a diseases until there is a sudden attack”, she said.
Ms Justice Mulanda said another witness, a juvenile told the court that the deceased died a few minutes after he was slapped by the accused and that his skin appeared pale and yellowish.
She said the father to the deceased also told the court that his son lived a healthy life and walked long distances without fainting.
“I am therefore of the firm opinion that although the deceased died after being slapped by the juvenile offender, the slapping was not the operating and substantial cause of the victim’s death.
“ It was merely the setting in or part of the history because if deceased had not had the medical condition, known as aortic stenosis , the slaps alone would not have caused his death, I therefore find the girl not guilty to manslaughter and acquit her,” Ms Justice Mulanda said.
THE EGG SHELL SKULL PRINCIPLE DID NOT APPLY?
Sad really both for the deceased and the traumtised girl.
Thanks for highlighting the eggshell skull rule. I’ve learnt something. I think the girl should have been dealt with as a minor instead of finding her not guilty. She should have been counselled by a professional.
Mailon, I suppose the presiding magistrate used a Crumbling Skull Rule in this case. The issue now is how those 2 families will live after this momentous ruling, especially if they are neighbours.
how about the CRUMBLING SKULL RULE?
Chankapila ikali ichaiche ma !!!
Ilyashi lyama flag takuli lelo, woderful
Lol wat egg shell principle wen ther z no causation
The girl should have also been slapped hard in the face, just to teach her something!
Ati the the doctor who performed the post morteum…,aortic stenosis has no signs and symptoms.This doctor must be a quack honestly and a disgrace to the medical fraternity in the country.Aortic stenosis is the abnormal narrowing of the aortic valve, which restricts the flow of blood from the ventricle into the aorta. Normally, blood carrying oxygen (oxygenated) enters the left upper chamber (atrium) of the heart. It is then pumped into the lower left chamber (ventricle). The aortic valve opens when the heart contracts to pump blood from the left ventricle into the aorta, the body’s main artery. When the left ventricle relaxes, the aortic valve closes because there is a higher blood pressure within the aorta compared to the ventricle.(www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarti)
Symptoms of aortic stenosis
Aortic stenosis may have no symptoms (asymptomatic) for many years. This is why the condition, which may have been congenital (present from before birth), is often diagnosed during teenage years. Symptoms may appear later in life after decades of gradual progressive narrowing. The onset of symptoms may be gradual or abrupt with:
Breathlessness
Breathing problems worsened by physical activity
Coughing at night when lying down in bed
Fainting
Heart palpitations
Pains in the chest, from the heart (angina)
Fatigue
Visual problems.
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Aortic_stenosis
You moderate Ba LT ,i wish you moderated insults as well from the PF cadres.
Interesting conclusion but the judge, but how can he say that the slap alone cannot cause death?
The trauma from the slap is what set on the heart attack. If she didn’t slap him maybe he could have lived ten more years, who knows? The judge could not just fathom sending a twelve year old girl to a Zambian jail. Do we have juvenile courts and juvenile detention centers? If not the govt should do something about it.
Annual physical exams Doc.. Or like in the old days Nurses used to go to schools and give first graders a checkup.. That’s how my Sisters rather similar condition was diagnosed..
Doctor was bribed!
This judgement was fair not because i support the behavior of this youngster, but simply because there is no proper institution in Zambia which can hold such juveniles with similar offences.
Listen, the judge must be convinced beyond any reasonable doubt to secure a conviction. If the judge has got any doubts he/she has got no option but to acquit the accused. In this case the judge was in the arena of doubts whether the death was caused by the slap or by the girls historic illness. So the judge did the right thing by setting the juvenile free.
This will be for forture referal with thy to come similar cases.