The family of a lady who allegedly died of electrocution in the Rock City neighborhood of Juba City in February is demanding justice for the deceased.

This comes after a lawyer representing the family said they have been threatened to drop the case by the owner of the Achol Philip Foundation where the late Achan Deng Chol was employed.

The Achol Philip Foundation is named after President Salva Kiir’s wife who died in 1993.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Advocate Josephine Adhet Deng, a family lawyer representing the late Achan Deng Chol, said the deceased allegedly died of electrocution in an apartment hired by her employer for the company’s staff.

She explained that after Achan died, her lifeless body was taken to the hospital by a watchman guarding the apartment after which the premises was deserted and all messages on the deceased’s phone deleted.

However, in a surprising turn of events, Adhet says President Salva Kiir’s former private secretary, Bang Wieu, and others have been threatening her and pressurizing her to drop the case.

“On 9 Feb I saw people posting on social media that Achan had passed on so we went to the family and the uncle told us that he found her body at the Juba Teaching Hospital and that it had been taken there by a watchman called Emmanuel Mariak and Ngor who guard the apartment where the late lived and then they called a friend to the deceased called Nyamal informing her of the death of Achan,” she explained. “When we got the information from Juba Teaching Hospital, I went to the police station in Mouna and then went to the site where she died and found it locked. We then proceeded with the authorities to the funeral home.”

According to Adhet, they demanded for postmortem which was done by Dr. Oromo Hospital, and after the results came out, the biological father of the deceased demanded the case to be dropped, stressing that his daughter had died and that there was nothing they could do.

“The authorities and I went inside and I washed and checked the body and found it had no visible wounds but we collected samples for postmortem which were sent to Dr. Oromo Hospital. However, after three hours when I returned home, I found there was a disagreement between the late Achan’s biological father, Deng Chol, and her uncle, Mawien, who raised her,” she narrated. “The father of the girl started questioning why I opened the body. He said it was okay if she passed on because they claimed she was killed by electricity. He said ‘It is okay with me, why did you go and check’ and so he turned the story on me. I also found two people who are related to me, Chol Agok, Atak Deng, and a third man, Deng Chagai, all of whom are national security officers at the home.”

“President Salva Kiir’s former Private Secretary Bang Wieu came to the Mouna Police Station and we do not know what they discussed with the investigator and the State Attorney who is based at the station but Wieu and the investigator later went to the hospital,” Adhet added.

She said that shortly after that, she received a phone call from the police investigator who told her that he wanted the postmortem results.

“However, I asked whether he had investigated the people who lived with the deceased but he told me there is no case going on,” she said. “When I asked why, he told me there a certain group of people came with the president’s former Private Secretary and said they did not want the investigation to go on and were demanding the postmortem result. I then sent a photocopy of the results to the police station on a boda-boda.”

Advocate Adhet said she and the family of the late Achan are now living in fear and have been receiving death threats from the company that employed the late.

“One time I received a phone call with a blocked caller identity and they asked me why I wanted to lose my life and said I was just a young lawyer and wanted to lose my life because of somebody`s case,” she recalled. “They said I was not the mother of the deceased and asked why I was pushing the case when the father of the deceased did not want the case to go ahead. ‘Who are you to run after the case?’ they asked me and asked what I would do if something happened to me.”

“I want the investigation to go ahead and if her death was caused by the Juba Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (JEDCO), I will sue them,” Adhet added.

The lawyer said the investigation into Achan’s death has stalled but vowed that she will ensure that justice prevails.

“I have been receiving a lot of calls and someone called me yesterday using an unknown number but I later found out it is Deng Chagai who called me and I have a recording,” Adhet revealed. “The family of the deceased, including her mother and two siblings, are being threatened and are not safe right now.”

Efforts to reach the Achol Philip Foundation for comment were unsuccessful as the company`s phone number was unreachable.

The Achol Philip Foundation is closely linked to the first family and the Late Achol Philip Nhial was the wife of President Salva Kiir Mayardit who died after a long illness in Nairobi in February 1993. She was laid to rest in Loa, Pageri Payam, Magwi County in Eastern Equatoria State.

The Foundation was formed purposely to honor the legacy of the late Achol Philip and as a tribute to the brave women of South Sudan who resiliently toiled through difficult times of the liberation struggle.