The High Court in Aweil town of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State has acquitted Mr. Ahmad Hassan Adam from an ongoing court hearing of the defilement and murder incident of five–year–old Abuk Lual, officials said.

Three weeks ago, police in Aweil arrested a Sudanese trader, Mr. Saber Abdalla Abusam for defiling and killing the young girl in the Ayuang residential area of Aweil Town.

Security later arrested two of his colleagues including Ahamad Hassan Adam and Omer Mohamud accused to have concealed information about the crime.

But in the second session of the hearing on Wednesday, the court acquitted Mr. Hassan after it found that he did not have any involvement in the incident.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj shortly after the session, the State Information Minister, William Anyuon Kuol, announced the prime suspect and Omer Mahmud are expected to appear before the court on Thursday for a third hearing.

“Among these three suspects, one person has been released because he was not found guilty and he is going to be released by today,” Anyuon disclosed.

The deceased’s father, Eduard Lual Lual, has welcomed the court sitting and the release of the third accused.

 “We don’t have any problem with the one who was acquitted because he confirmed all what Saber Abdalla has denied,” Lual said.

For his part, Isaac Deng Athian the accused defense lawyer said his client might be convicted for the crime over failure to produce their witnesses.

“The accused said they didn’t have witnesses. This actually reflects a high degree of fear for the defense that the accused must be convicted and if convicted, then we will see whether we will appeal against the decision or not,” Deng said.

“However, we will not conclude as we are speaking now because we have not yet submitted our last submission of the defense. Hopefully, we are going to submit our defense first and see what follows next,” Deng added.