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Man handed jail term in Terekeka for inflicting domestic abuse on wife

Author: Michael Daniel | Published: October 4, 2024

Judge's gavel in courtroom - (Photo: Courtesy).

A man has been sentenced to one and a half years in prison by a mobile court in Terekeka County after he was found guilty of inflicting serious domestic abuse on his wife through detention and hiring three men to beat her up.

The court also convicted the main defendant’s associate to one year for participating in the domestic and gender-based violence.

Details of the case that were disclosed in the court hearing indicate that the survivor was previously imprisoned by a customary court for filing for divorce after a long period of suffering from domestic abuse in the hands of her husband.

The customary court had argued that the Mundari tradition does not have divorce and faulted the woman for seeking to break away from her abusive husband.

After serving her six months in prison, the Mundari Customary Court in Terekeka handed the woman back to her husband, Judge Ajok Tito, who presided over the mobile court’s finding.

“She is a mother with two children. Her husband used to beat her routinely, and she filed a complaint requesting a divorce from the customary court after a period of suffering, humiliation, and beating,” Judge Tito said.

“The customary court sentenced her to six months in prison and told her that ‘according to our custom and tradition, we do not have a divorce.”

The survivor subsequently fled to her brother’s house for refuge after the husband hired three men to beat her up following his accusation of her being involved in an alleged extramarital love affair.

“After serving her sentence, the court handed her over to her husband, who hired three young men, and they beat her, claiming that she had a phone that she used to contact her lover.”

“The victim then fled to her brother’s house, who filed a report with the police under Articles 237, 52, and 48 of the Penal Code of 2008.”

Judge Tito said the hiring of assailants to harm the mother of two children prompted her brother to file a case against the man and his brother.

The judge said during the court proceeding that the convict argued that he paid dowry and had the right to beat his for a wrongdoing.

“When the husband was interrogated, he spoke with pride that he committed the crime and that he tortured her because he paid the dowry and had the right to do what he did.”

But he and his brother were found guilty under Articles 237, 52, and 48, which relate to causing serious harm, abandonment, and participation in the crime.

Judge Tito said they decided to sentence the husband to one and a half years in prison and his brother to a year for participating in the crime.

They were ordered to pay another sum of 3 million South Sudan pounds to compensate the survivor.

“We decided to sentence the husband to a year and a half in prison and his brother to a year and compensation of one million pounds due to the serious harm.”

Studies indicate that some 65 percent of women and girls in South Sudan have experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime, and some 51 percent have suffered intimate partner violence (IPV).

According to the UN Children Fund (UNICEF), gender-based violence (GBV) is one of the most critical threats to the protection and wellbeing of women and children in the country.

 

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