The High Court in Upper Nile State has sentenced a 32-year-old man to 10 years in prison for defiling a 16-year-old schoolgirl.

Sebit Daniel Laa committed the crime in Malakal displaced person’s camp in December 2020.

According to Andrew Joshua—the presiding judge, the young girl was going to the bathroom when Sebit Daniel asked her to first go buy him cigarettes from a nearby shop.

Upon return, he forced himself on her inside his room.

In his ruling, Judge Andrew Joshua Lado found Sebit Daniel guilty of defilement.

“Convict Sebit Daniel Laa, I sentence you to 10 years imprisonment according to the provision of Section 247 of the Penal Code Act 2008,” the judge said on Wednesday.

“The convict is also to pay the victim 300,000 SSP as remedies through the civil proceeding.”

Judge Joshua said the convict has the right to appeal against the sentence within 15 days.

The mobile court in Malakal has now handed prison terms to two men in the past one month for committing sexual-related crimes against young girls.