By William Madouk Garang
Two foreign teachers affiliated to King Solomon School are under police custody suspected for attempted rape against a 16-year-old school girl in Maper West of Aweil Center County.
Police in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State on Wednesday confirmed that the suspects, Henry Iseko, 34 and Philip Katende, 30 were apprehended and were undergoing investigation accordingly.
According to the State police authorities, a criminal case had been opened against the two foreign teachers under sections 63, 247 and 248 of South Sudan Penal Code Act, 2008.
The Sections mentioned highlight about; attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment, rape and unnatural offences. However, teachers’ nationalities were not revealed for sensitivity of the matter.
In a statement seen by No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper, the NBGs police said the first rape attempt was recorded on 1st July, 2022 but was resolved at family level; however, the police acted swiftly after receiving report on the second incident.
“It’s true that the two teachers of King Solomon namely; Philip Katende 30 years and Henry Iseko 34 years are being investigated by police for attempting to rape a 16 year old girl, name withheld for security reasons, on Monday 18th July 2022 at 10am,” said the police in a statement.
“The second attempt was committed by Philip Katende on 15th July 2022 but the girl was courageous enough to pressure her mother to report the matter to police. Immediately, we heard the case, we took the matter seriously and started investigation,” added the statement.
The police however warned the general public, more especially families of survivors, to stop covering such horrible crimes in excuse of protecting family reputation without considering the pain of the innocent child.
“Without reporting such behaviour, you’re encouraging rapists to continue with their evil acts under certain culture. In actual sense, you are protecting the criminal not your child,” warned the police.
The State police alerted the families to think twice and cease from covering up rape but report to the police, adding that the child might be affected or live with disease like HIV, unwanted pregnancy, suicidal thoughts, psychological effects and fear as well as trauma.
The NBGs police further stressed that they will not condone any crimes against humanity more especially the Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV).