Two young men have been sentenced to prison after a South Sudanese court in the capital Juba found them guilty of gang-raping a 17-year-old girl.
On Monday, one young man was sentenced to serve a 7-year prison sentence while another was sentenced to 6 months in prison for their crime.
The rape survivor’s father told Radio Tamazuj that his daughter was gang-raped by five young men at Hai Tijaria after attending a school event on 23 November 2017.
He pointed out that the police and doctors testified that the girl had been raped.
He said one of the culprits called John has been sentenced for seven years after confessing that he was among the five youth who raped the girl.
“The young man sentenced to six months in prison is the first guy who went to Supiri Secondary School and snatched a phone from the girl and ran towards the place where the incident occurred,” the father said.
He urged all South Sudanese not to the law into their hands for the rule of law to prevail in the country.” I am happy with the court ruling because I feel that the law has given me my rights today,” he said.
Reech Malual, a South Sudanese rights activist who works for the Screen of Rights group, explained that the first accused was convicted under Article 247 of the South Sudanese Penal Code, while the second accused was convicted under Article 293 of South Sudanese Penal Code.
Reech supported today’s court ruling and pointed out that the culprits were five but the police could not arrest the remaining perpetrators.