SSPDF general sentenced to 3 years for rapping own daughter

JUBA – A court in South Sudan’s capital Juba on Friday sentenced a senior army general belonging to South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) to at least three years in jail after he was found guilty of having raped his own daughter.

Incest, which is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives, is forbidden under South Sudan laws.

The illegal practice typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adoption, or lineage.

Court judge found that the army officer who has not been identified for privacy purposes has been raping the unnamed daughter since she was 15, making it a two-offense case: involvement in incest and having sex with a minor.

The army general was further fined SSP1 million in addition to the three-year sentence under article 268 of the South Sudan Penal Code of 2008 which prohibits sexual relationship between blood-bond family members.

“The result of the sentence is unfair to my client because the girl was 15 years when her father started raping her until she reached the age of 18,” says plaintiff’s lawyer Josephine Adhet Deng as quoted by the City Review.

“Also, her mother does not work, and the girl raped has two sisters; two brothers also suffer from very difficult living conditions, in addition to the fact that the girl herself lives in very bad psychological condition.”