By Adia Jildo
The first mobile court in Mundri sentenced a 32-year-old policeman to 10 years’ imprisonment for countable homicides in Mundri yesterday.
Yohana Malish shot two people, one who was his colleague lost his life on spot and the other was left injured. His verdict was passed by the high court judge; Andrew Joshua Lado.
According to the judge, testimonies from the witness and parents stated that the policeman had a previous history of mental illness years before the incident leaving him with a bargain sentence in the court. The relatives of the deceased (January) identified by one name, requested for a compensation of plot of land and a house to be built for the children of the deceased stating that it was part of their culture.
The court also regarded a compensation of the injured person (Bernard) an amount of 200,000 South Sudanese Pounds as medical expenses. The court sentenced Yohana according to section 210 of the Penal code Act 2008.
Two other men were also convicted of murder on Tuesday at Mundri mobile court by Judge Andrew Joshua Lado on Tuesday.
Benjamin Sunday, also a policeman and who is one of the two convicts, was convicted to 15 years in prison for the murder of Isaac Charles Simaya whose service will be determined by his date of arrest 15th September 2013 citing section 210 of the penal code Act 2008. Benjamin was charged an amount of 5 million South Sudanese Pounds as compensation for the murder of a relative to the deceased through civic proceedings.
Stephen Galiba Makaka, also one of the two men was convicted to 5 years in prison; he will serve from the 24th October 2019 when he was arrested for the murder of Johntana Kejiba whom he cut with a panga. He was charged with 3 million South Sudanese pounds as funeral expense and compensation that would be compensated through a civic procedure as well.
Two other men were also sentenced for rape in the Mundri mobile court on Tuesday. A 17-year-old Micheal David Abuyi and Samuel Abujohn Douglas for 2 and 10 years in prison respectively. Micheal David Abuyi has been sent to a reformatory school starting from his day of arrest from 18th Feb 2022 and to pay a compensation of 400,000 South Sudanese Pounds to the family of the 16-year-old girl.
Samuel who is to serve 10 years in prison started his term from the date of his arrest on the 29th March 2022 and is meant to pay a compensation of 500,000 South Sudanese Pounds as remedies for raping a 14-year-old girl.
The High court judge at Mundri Mobile court Andrew Joshua cited challenges being faced by the court which are preventing justice to prevail.
He said assessment made by the team that visited Mundri prison in 2020 was not accounting to the number of reported cases in the prison.
“Some cases were already tried by the customary court. They are dealing with all the cases of murder, rape and all other cases and this is a challenge we have faced here,” he cited.
About 6 murder cases and 2 rape cases have been reported with a trial of 5 murder and 2 rape cases and 1 verdict will take place on Friday.
Andrew called on the people with cases of murder and rape to report to the high court to access justice for themselves and families.
“Some people are far from the town, so it is difficult to know about the court activities. We are informing them through a local radio called Madi FM,” Andrew said.
He said land disputes have become one of the biggest challenges faced by many in the area unfortunately, the duration allocated for their operation is limited so they shall not be able to handle such issues.
No permanent court has been operating in Mundri since 2016. A team was sent on the 19th March to assess piled cases in Mundri prison.