The Juvenile Court in Juba on Wednesday sentenced a 26-year-old female Kenyan teacher to five years in jail for cruelty towards a minor in her charge.
Emily Kiroyia Nakuru, a former teacher at Mercy Britain International School was arrested on 29 March on an allegation of assaulting a 3-year-old girl at the school.
After listening to both the prosecution and defense lawyers and considering the evidence, the court presided over by Andrew Joshua Lado sentenced Kiroyia to 5 years for cruelty under Section 243 of the South Sudan Penal Code Act 2008 read together with Section 22 of the Child Act 2008.
Section 243 states: “whoever is in charge or care of a child under eighteen years of age…. and has willfully ill-treated or neglected the child, in such a way as to cause him or her unnecessary suffering, commits an offense.”
Prosecution Attorney Deng John Deng told journalists after the ruling that the court’s verdict was fair and that if the defense team led by Reech Ring Bol is not satisfied with the judgment, they can appeal by the law.
“The crime was committed against a 3-year-old child at a school where the accused was a teacher,” he said. “She (Kiroyia) committed a crime of crudity to a child because the child was under her custody.
“For us as the prosecution in this particular case, we are satisfied with the judgment of the court but the defense, if they are not satisfied with the judgment, have the right to appeal,” Deng added.