Maridi County Grade One magistrate, Daniel Angelo, on Friday 30 October 2020 convicted and sentenced two policemen to five-year prison terms for defiling two teenage girls at the Maridi County police station on the night of 23 October 2020.
In a statement read during the ruling, magistrate Angelo said the two policemen, identified as Peter Yoani and Ezikiah James, were found guilty according to South Sudan Panel Code Act 2008 Sub-section 247 that states that anyone who engages in sexual activities with a person below 18 years is automatically considered to have committed defilement and rape.
Maridi County paramount chief, Daniel Bakindo James, welcomed the court ruling saying, “ I am very happy with the verdict of the court that the two policemen who raped the girls are sentenced to five years and dismissed from the South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS). This is good and it should be an example to other policemen in Maridi.”
Daniel urged Maridi County police administration to advise its personnel not to drink alcohol while on duty because it leads to them breaking the law.
Editha Meling, the director of the National Women Empowerment Rehabilitation Organization (NWERO), said she was saddened by the whole case because the defilement of the two girls should not have happened at a police station.
“I hear the policemen were sentenced to only five years but according to the penal code they should have been sentenced to between seven and fourteen years,” Meling said. “We are not happy.”
Earlier last week, the Maridi Civil Society Forum condemned the rape of the minors by the policemen while in safe custody.
Radio Tamazuj broke the news of the rape case last month. The two girls aged 14 and 15 were arrested by the paramount chief of Maridi, Daniel Bakindo James, for attempting to run away to Juba and kept in Maridi police station for safe custody pending their return to their homes.
Separately on the same day, the court sentenced two other policemen, Baraka Ramadan and Benneth Ezia, to four months imprisonment for attempted rape.