The Mobile Court in Juba Prison on Friday adjourned the trial of eleven defendants in the murder of a woman last year after the investigator asked for more time to review the case.
The presiding judge Joshua Ladu said the investigator justified that the case file has been with the prosecution team for eight months for evidence evaluation.
In April 2022, Lologo police arrested 11 suspects in connection with the killing of 25-year-old Akur Ngoth Jok. She was found hanged near her house.
The 11 defendants include five women who were later bailed out on medical ground.
The victim’s family claims that Akur was hanged because her in-laws suspected that she was involved in the death of her husband in the same year.
Ngoth Jok, a brother to the deceased woman, alleged that his sister was hanged by her in-law due to family issues.
Jok told the police that the postmortem indicated that the victim had been subjected to torture before hanging.
On his part, Advocate Ayuen Samuel, the defense lawyer of the 11 accused, complained about the postponement of the session for the second time, adding that the procedure harms his clients.
Samuel said he was the one who asked to transfer the case file to the court.
“The court today adjourned the trial requested by the investigator says he wants to read the file again,” he told Eye Radio.
“My clients were arrested in April last year and we are the ones pushing the case to transfer to court, not the complainer.”
Judge Joshua Lado adjourned the court session to March 23rd to listen to the investigator’s findings.