S. Sudan police officers arrested for raping detained underage girls in Maridi

YAMBIO – Two South Sudanese police officers have been arrested in the country’s Western Equatoria state’s Maridi County after they were caught red-handed raping two small girls who were detained at a police station for trying to escape poverty to Juba, according to authorities there.

The Western Equatoria state police chief, General Emmanuel Laku, said the two police officers were arrested on Thursday after they were found raping two girls who were being detained at a police station in Maridi where the two police officers were on duty at night.

“Yes the report published is true. They (police officers) were founding doing an affairs with underage girls in Maridi on Wednesday night and were arrested on Thursday [last week] and they are now under detention,” General Emmanuel said.

“The two small girls were arrested because they were going to Juba apparently to flee the situation here and on their way they were arrested because underage girls are not supposed to move to other states without the knowledge of their parent. So, when they were detained, the two men who were on duty took the girl outside at night and raped them,” he added.

He further said the two men “will face justice if investigation found them of any wrongdoing because this is a illegal practice because the police who are supposed to protect should not be involved in such activities.”