Lakes State, South Sudan
September 27,2021— Authorities in Awerial county announced that a policeman, who was accused of raping a teenager in Awerial county of Lakes State, was apprehended on Friday, September 24, 2021.
In a statement obtained by Nyamilepedia, the police chief inspector in Awerial County, Bol Tier says the accused was apprehended and is now placed under police custody in Mingkaman.
“This incident occurred in Dor Payam, and it has taken almost seven days before the case reached us in the police station in Mingkaman. The alleged rape suspect is now kept in police custody for investigations and the teenage girl was taken to hospital for examination,” Tier told Radio Tamazuj.
According to Tier, the police are interrogating the suspect for the incident and will forward the case to the court.
Dau Bul Dau, the clinical officer in charge of Mingkaman Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) who examined the rape victim said he found no major injuries.
“I am the one treating the girl who was allegedly raped. I have given her some antibiotics after the examination. The case has taken long in the village without being quickly reported,” said Bul.
Teresa Achuei, a reproductive health worker in Mingkaman PHCC, also confirmed that the rape case happened but said it was reported late.
“The rape survivor is now with me in the PHCC. But since it has taken long a long time, I just sat down with a rape survivor, and she narrated what happened to her when she was raped at night by a person she suspected to be a policeman while sleeping,” Achuei explained.
Albino Aguk Gop, who happened to be relative of the victim, said the girl was raped while asleep by a man in police uniform in Dor Payam days after her parents traveled to Mingkaman for treatment leaving her to care for her younger siblings.
The rape cases in South Sudan are very rampant giving the total breakdown of law and order in the country. Most of the rape cases in South Sudan are being perpetrated with impunity largely by soldiers in uniform leaving the young girls and women unprotected and vulnerable from all predatory criminals.