A teacher in Tanzania has been sentenced to death for beating a pupil so badly that he died of his injuries.
Judge Lameck Mlacha said Respicius Mtazangira, 51, had acted maliciously when he repeatedly hit the child with a blunt object last August.
The teacher had accused 14-year-old Sperius Eradius of stealing a female teacher's handbag.
Corporal punishment can only be carried out in Tanzanian schools within certain guidelines.
A maximum of four strokes can be given and the head teacher must be present. The punishment can only be administered by the head teacher or somebody they have authorised.
The BBC's Aboubakar Famau in Dar es Salaam says this is a rare, high-profile judgement aimed at protecting schoolchildren in the country.
News of the boy's death last year at Kibeta Primary school in Bukoba town sparked national outrage and demands for justice. The family of Eradius refused to bury his body until the culprit was arrested.
Although death sentences can be handed down by law, Tanzania has not carried out an execution since 1994.
Mtazangira has the right to appeal.
His co-accused Heriet Gerald - the female teacher whose handbag the child was accused of stealing - was not found guilty of committing an offence.
Source: BBC
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A lesser punishment of this nature should be brought to Ghana since teachers (especially those in the secondary schools) are abusing students too much. I want anyone to challenge me on the issue and I will provide evidence and mention names of some schools and circumstances of child abuse in the form of illegally and wrongfully canning and forcing students to kneel in the sun and on gravels as well as canning students who are kneeling in the sun. Let the Ministry of Education set up a commission to investigate child abuse by teachers in Ghanaian schools and I will willingly appear before the commission to provide evidence. All that most teachers in Ghana know is punishing pupils and students for no reason. Some people think being a teacher means abusing children.
Wicked teacher. God save our poor kids