(i) is a crime against public security in Zimbabwe or against the safety of the State of Zimbabwe;
or
(ii) is a crime which
A. has produced a harmful effect in Zimbabwe; or
B. was intended to produce a harmful effect in Zimbabwe; or
C. was committed with the realisation that there was a real risk or possibility that it might
produce a harmful effect in Zimbabwe.
(2) This section does not limit the effect of any enactment which
(a) regulates the territorial jurisdiction of any court; or
(b) makes special provision for the trial, conviction or punishment of particular extra-territorial crimes.
CHAPTER II
ELEMENTS OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY
PART I
CRIMINAL C APACITY
6
Children under seven years of age not criminally liable
A child below the age of seven years shall be deemed to lack criminal capacity and shall not be tried for or
convicted of any crime which he or she is alleged to have committed before attaining that age.
7 Criminal capacity of children between seven and fourteen years of age
A child who is of or over the age of seven years but below the age of fourteen years at the time of the conduct
constituting any crime which he or she is alleged to have committed shall be presumed, unless the contrary is
proved beyond a reasonable doubt
(a) to lack the capacity to form the intention necessary to commit the crime; or
(b) where negligence is an element of the crime concerned, to lack the capacity to behave in the way that a
reasonable adult would have behaved in the circumstances.
8 No presumption of criminal incapacity for persons over the age of fourteen years
For the avoidance of doubt it is declared that no person who is of or over the age of fourteen years shall be
presumed to lack the capacity to form the necessary intention to commit any crime or, where negligence is an
element of the crime concerned, to behave in the way that a reasonable person would have behaved in the
circumstances of the crime.
PART II
C RIMINAL CONDUCT
9
Liability for criminal conduct
A person shall not be guilty of or liable to be punished for a crime unless
(a) the crime is defined by this Code or any other enactment; and
(b) the person committed the crime or was a party to its commission as provided in this Code or in the
enactment concerned; and
(c) his or her liability is based upon voluntary conduct; and
(d) subject to subsection (5) of section seventeen, the person engaged in the conduct constituting the crime
with any of the blameworthy states of mind referred to in sections thirteen to sixteen, as this Code or any
other enactment may require; and
(e) his or her liability is based upon unlawful conduct, that is, upon conduct for which there is no lawful
excuse affording that person a complete defence to the criminal charge, whether in terms of Chapter
XIV or otherwise.
10 Criminal conduct may consist of acts or omissions
(1) Criminal conduct may consist of either an act or an omission.
(2) A person shall not be held criminally liable for an omission nor shall he or she be guilty of the crime to
which the omission relates unless
(a) the crime for which the person is held liable is defined in such a way as to render criminal his or her
failure to act; or
(b) the person had a legal duty to act positively arising from
(i) the existence of a protective or family relationship between himself or herself and another person
which required him or her to protect the life, safety or any legal interest of that other person; or
(ii) the creation by the person’s prior conduct of a situation in which another person’s life, safety or
legal interest was or might be endangered; or
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