A 32-year-old man who was convicted for defilement has been set free by a Mobile Court currently adjudicating cases in Unity State’s Mayom County after he was locked up in jail for three months, an official said.
The state’s Advisor for Justice, Samuel Mathok, told this publication that the man was released on Wednesday after the Mobile Court reviewed his case files and reversed an earlier verdict that convicted him.
The freed man whose name was withheld had been accused of defiling a 14-year-old girl and had been sentenced to a 10-year jail term.
“Our work as the Mobile Court is to investigate the cases and after we are done with investigations, we sentence those who have committed crimes against others and we release those who are being denied their rights,” he said.
According to Mathok, the Mobile Court will only close when it completes the remaining 27 cases on Thursday.
“We will be going back to the state capital, Bentiu, from where we will send our report to the National Ministry of Justice and UNMISS’ Department of Rule of Law,” he stated. “We will engage UNMISS to reestablish another Mobile Court in Mayom County because there are new cases still being reported to us. That is why I said there will be another engagement with UNMISS.”
The advisor said the Mobile Court has only freed one person among 39 suspects since it started work in Mayom County.