A recruit for the position of hangman in Sri Lanka got upset on seeing the gallows for the first time and quit, officials said on Tuesday.
Reuters report that the new hangman selected from 176 applicants was appointed last week, months after two hangmen chosen late last year failed to show up for work.
“We gave him one week’s training, but he resigned after seeing the gallows, saying that he didn’t want the job,” Chandrarathna Pallegama, commissioner general of prisons, told Reuters.
“He told me that after seeing the gallows he got upset… Next time, we will show the gallows to the new recruits before giving them basic training.”
Ironically, Reuters noted that the hangman may not even be saddled with the task of snuffing life out of anybody as the job is only administrative.
According to the news agency, the Indian Ocean island nation, a predominantly Buddhist country, has not carried out an execution since 1976, despite the fact that there are at least 405 convicts on death row.
Reuters however noted that an alarming rise in child abuse, rapes, murders, and drug trafficking in the country since the 25-year war against Tamil Tiger separatists ended in 2009 has prompted some lawyers and politicians to push for the death penalty to be reintroduced.
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