The Mobile Court in Nimule town of Eastern Equatoria State has sentenced a young man to 7 years imprisonment for raping a 78-year-old disabled woman.
Shandiga Steven, aged 30 years was convicted by the court last week.
Steven has also been ordered to pay six cows and 500,000 South Sudanese pounds in compensation to the survivor, according to the local customary laws.
He will spend almost a decade in jail for having raped an elderly woman in Obari village between Magwi County and Nimule in September last year.
According to the police statement, Steven attacked the woman while on her way to collect firewood.
The survivor narrated to the police that she was sexually abused and couldn’t call for help because the offender had strangled her by the neck.
The preliminary investigation indicates that the culprit was identified by the survivor at a local bar.
Out of anger, she hit him with the stick and he tried to escape before he was caught by people in the bar.
When asked by judge Obaj Denyong Anyong if he had committed the offense, Steven could not confess the crime.
He said no one would believe that he is innocent because of his previous criminal records linked to rape cases.
Judge Anyong then found him guilty of violating section 247 of the South Sudan Penal Act 2008.
Gama Hassan Ocsas, a legal aid officer at Steward Women, who provide legal assistance to survivor says the trial only took three court session.
“The case was heard in three sessions in the third session on the 22nd of this month he was convicted and sentenced to 7 years in jail and paid 6 cows according to the survivor’s customary law.”
“And he will also pay 500.000 South Sudanese pound. When he was asked by the court if he was guilty or not he responded that even if he is not guilty but because he was convicted much time for rape so that previous record no one will believe him.”