By Charles K Mark
Final court verdict in the case of a slain Catholic nun, Rev. Sr. Dr. Veronika Teresia Rackova, has been adjourned for the second time.
The case was transferred to the high court in Juba in 2021 after a series of investigations that have passed through four different judges.
The Catholic Church leadership again sent representatives to the Kator High Court in Juba to hear the last and final ruling yesterday, but the hearing was called off reportedly due to the absence of the accused.
The accused and his team unfortunately did not, for the second time, appear in court to allow the court to issue its final verdict.
The first adjournment was effected based on the reason that the official who was to bring the accused to court was making salary payments outside Juba.
The defendant had requested fourteen days’ time, which elapsed yesterday on the 14th of November, but again, the verdict did not happen, and the judge pushed it to the 17th of November 2023.
Meanwhile, the prosecuting side declined to issue an official statement to the media, citing that the matter is currently at a security-sensitive stage that does not require reactions.
Sr. Veronika, a native of Slovakia, pioneered the missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSPS) Mission in South Sudan’s Yei Catholic Diocese in 2010.
She died at Kenya’s Nairobi Hospital on May 20, 2016, after she was attacked and shot several times by a group of soldiers, allegedly from the SSPDF and some from the National Security Forces.