A high court in Torit town of Eastern Equatoria State has sentenced a 24-year-old man to death by hanging over the murder of a traditional chief in Nimule last month.
On 11 July, the local community was holding a meeting in the border town of Nimule to fundraise for the burial of two youths who were killed in Mugali when John Ebele, the chief of Nzara Boma in Nimule Payam, was gunned down.
The murder of the Nzara Boma chief created tensions in Nimule town, with residents taking to the streets and blocking the highway prompting security forces to disperse the livid crowds.
Two suspects were later apprehended for the shooting and subsequent death of the chief, and they were detained at military barracks.
“Today, the case of the murder of the chief of Nzara Boma, the late Ebele John, has been concluded. The mobile high court has issued a death sentence against the first accused, Lat Machut, who was responsible for the shooting and killing of the chief. And the court also convicted the second accused who caused the problem by taking pictures of people who were gathered to contribute money for the burial of two people killed previously in Mugali,” Gam Hassan Oscar, the defense lawyer for the late chief’s family, told Radio Tamazuj this afternoon.
“The first convict, Lat Machut, was convicted under section 206 of the penal code, 2008, and that is the section in regards to murder which says whoever causes the death of another person intentionally, and he was also convicted under section 72 which is the possession of dangerous weapons because he bought a weapon and was not licensed. The first accused was sentenced to death by hanging,” he added.
The lawyer further said the court sentenced the second accused, a 26-year-old man, to three years in prison for taking photos that caused tension.
The defense lawyer says the trial proceedings have been fair for both sides without any complaints from any side that led to the reasonable decision.
Advocate Gama pointed out that the high court has 15 days to receive an appeal against the ruling.
Onyango Galdin, a field manager at Steward Women Organization, a local organization sponsoring the mobile court in Nimule, confirmed the verdict passed by the court.
Onyango appealed to the public to refrain from actions that breach the law.
“The verdict was passed according to the interest of the relatives of the diseased, and it is also in the interest of the public because there was enough evidence found that the killing of the chief was intended with all the relevant evidence,” Onyango said.