Lakes woman sent to jail for attempt to convert minor to Seventh-Day Adventist Church  

JUBA – A woman in Yirol East County of South Sudan’s restive Lakes state has been sentenced to three (3) months in jail and ordered to pay a fine of 68,000 SSP after a failed attempt to convert a 14-year-old boy to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

In a ruling, presiding judge ordered the woman identified as Rebecca Nyandit to pay at least 30,000 South Sudanese Pounds to the court as a fine, and 38,000 South Sudanese Pounds as compensation to the family of the boy who has not however been identified.

“This issue was about to cause violence between the parents of the boy and Seventh-day Adventist Church. The parents of the 14-year-boy do not want the Seventh-day Adventist Church and they don’t want the little boy to pray in that church,” Judge Makhor said, according to Radio Tamazuj.

“Secondly, Rebecca Nyandit was recorded by the parents of the boy in an audio voice while talking with a boy and she was planning to take the boy away from his parents to Bor. The issue was about to bring violence and that is why the town court issued a verdict to sentence Rebecca Nyandit to 3 months in prison with a fine,” he added.

However, the accused was also quoted by Radio Tamazuj as saying that he has been released on bail by an international Non-governmental Organization (NGO) and was now at her home.

“I am a health worker in Yirol East County Primary Health Care Center and I am from the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We pray in the church every Saturday, which is the true day for Jesus Christ,” Nyandit said.

“The parents accused me that I wanted to convert their son to Seventh-day Adventist Church which they don’t want. Secondly, they accused me again of trying to steal their son and that I am planning to take him to Bor and they recorded my voice on a phone when the boy tried to call me and informed me about what their parents were doing when they were opening the case against me to the police,” she added.

She said the fine will be deducted from her $70 monthly salary.

It remains unclear what laws the Lakes state court used to sentence the woman. Under South Sudan’s transitional constitution, “All religions shall be treated equally and religion or religious beliefs shall not be used for divisive purposes.”