Six juvenile rapists attending conviction session. (Photo: Michael Daniel/Eye Radio).

The Gender-Based Violence Court in Juba has sentenced six juvenile offenders to three-years in reformatory prison for gang-raping a 13-year-old girl two years ago.

The six underage boys identified as Barnaba Robert, Khalel Margani, Abraham Maguth, James Lado, Joseph Charles, and David Michael, committed the crime in July 2022 in Gudele Residential Area of Juba.

They are aged between 14 and 18.

According to the police investigators, the convicts entered a saloon where the young girl was having her hair dressed when they pulled her out and raped her.

Her mother who discovered this after she arrived home late with dusty cloth, reported the incident leading to their arrest.

A medical test presented to the court indicated the unnamed survivor was raped.

In a court session on Monday, Judge Andrew Jashuo Lado found all the six guilty according to section 247 of South Sudan Penal Act 2008 which stipulates punishment for rape.

He sentenced them to three years in jail and ordered each to pay half a million South Sudan pound for inflicting damages in the girl and the family.

“The six accused are convicted to three Years in jail to be serve in the reformatory school started from today 12th August 2024. Each convict must pay 500.000 SSP as compensation to the victim. The parties have 14 days for appeal,” the judge read.

The Gender Based Violence and Juvenile Court in Juba has so far sentenced hundreds of young men to different prison terms for committing crimes including physical assault, defilement and rape among women and girls since its establishment in December 2020.

Despite the significant trend in accountability against GBV perpetrators, activists believe the figure could be by far higher.

GBV survivors have said in previous media reports, that they have lost trust in the police force, which, according to them does not take sexual abuse allegations serious.

They said in some cases, police officers question the accuracy of their testimonies.