Juba, South Sudan,
31st May 2021 – A mentally-disturbed woman who went astray was on Sunday found along Juba – Nimule Road seriously beaten by members of the South Sudan People’s Defense Force (SSPDF), a family spokesperson told Nyamilepedia.
Aol Susan, a mother of eight aged 37, was brought from Ayii Boma in Magwi County to Across the River, a local church in Juba, for a so-called deliverance after she started exhibiting a weird behavior suspected by the family to be demonic possession.
She was prayed for, for nearly a week while at the church and on-chain.
Susan had a mysterious wound on her left limb. But the prayer bore no positive impact as her condition worsened.
On a Friday morning, Susan was unchained as the clerics at the church continued their prayer according to eyewitnesses. Church officials told our publication that Susan requested to go to the restroom. When her request was granted, that was the time they last saw her.
“We’re very disturbed by this incident. She [Susan] stepped out at 05:00 am saying she was going for a short call. We even followed her shortly afterward but we couldn’t see her,” a representative from the church said.
“It’s a very tricky phenomenon, I don’t even know where to start and where to begin the search,” said the father, who accompanied Susan to the church in his first-ever visit to Juba.
The church said it filed a report to a nearby police station but they got no feedback from the law enforcement agents immediately. Efforts to bring the matter to public attention through a radio announcement proved futile.
Susan was first spotted in the early morning of Saturday in Sherikat by a family member who had no idea she was being looked for. She was walking back from Juba to Ayii Boma.
“I saw her in the morning at around 8:00 am in Sherikat dressed in a white jean and a wrap-around top. I didn’t know she was lost,” he said to the annoyance of other family members who blamed him for passing the information late in the evening.
On Sunday, the search intensified and Susan was found past Neshitu by a stranger who clothed her after finding her undressed with gruesome injuries sustained from a physical assault inflicted by members of SSPDF deployed to “maintain peace and security” along the road.
“We found her alive but she suffered assault from a group of soldiers along the road. We hope she gets well,” the sister who sought anonymity told Nyamilepedia over the phone.
Asked what evidence linked the assault to SSPDF she said, “they were in SSPDF military uniform. They claimed that Susan accused them of stealing her daughter. It was so sad they couldn’t even understand such statement was coming from someone who’s mentally unstable,” wailed the sister.
When Nyamilepedia followed with the family last week, Susan regained some consciousness but remained unable to walk with additional injuries sustained on both limbs, worsening the already existing excruciating pain.
