The High Court in Juba has today sentenced Babu Emmanuel, the accused in the murder of three juvenile sisters, to death by hanging after finding him guilty of murder.
24-year-old Babu Emmanuel was the prime suspect for the gruesome murder of three siblings Lydia Edward, 9, Blessing Edward, 7, and their 4-year-old sister Nura Edward two months ago at their home in Juba’s Rock City suburb.
High court Justice Duoth Kulang Bishok read the ruling.
“In accordance with section 224 of the criminal procedure act 2008, the court has found that the accused person is guilty to the charges of murder under section 206 of the Penal Code Act. The death sentence against the convicted Babu Emmanuel Lokiri as follows; 1. The convict Babu Emmanuel Lokiri should be hanged by the neck until he is dead. 2, the case papers to be submitted to the Supreme Court for confirmation after 15 days of appeal. 3, the knife should be destroyed in the criminal court by the court police. Issued under my signature and seal of the court in Juba today 26th October 2020, I Duoth Kulang Bishok high court judge Juba.”
Asked by the court, what should be done to the convict before a ruling was made, the children’s parents called for retribution.
“Let him die the way my children died. He slaughtered my children like sheep if the court can slaughter him like a sheep, let it be done to him so that he would feel the pain that Naomi, Blessing, and Nura felt,” the slain children's father Edward Andrew Loboka said.
Gilda Kenda Kedion, the children's mother said, "This man killed my children in a very brutal way. If there is a death sentence it would be good for him because he may do the same again later."
On Friday last week, the prosecution team and defense lawyers of Babu Emmanuel made their final submissions to the court. Babu’s defense lawyer Simon Akeny insisted that his client was innocent.
Earlier charges against the mother of the accused Alice Noel were dropped after the court determined that she had no case to answer in the highly publicized case.
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit condemned the murder of the three children which sparked a public outcry calling it a "heinous crime" and directed law enforcement agencies to use every tool at their disposal to quickly apprehend and bring the suspect to justice.
The three siblings were gruesomely murdered on August 1st, 2020.