The police authority in Warrap are holding a young woman accused of killing her newborn female child in Twic County at the weekend.
Police say the unnamed 25-year-old gave birth at the MSF health facility in Mayen Abun, Wunrok Payam, on Friday. After she was discharged the following day, the mother reportedly took the life of the innocent child at Pan-ameth Adiany village.
“When she reached the forest, she killed the child and went home empty-handedly. The residents then started asking where the child was, but she could not talk,” said Lt. Col Atem Deng Atem, police inspector in Wunrok.
“With the involvement of police, who threatened her, she admitted to killing the baby and dumping its body because she got conceived after committing adultery with another man.”
The South Sudan Penal Code 2008 states that concealment of birth by secret disposal of a child or dead body is a crime.
Article 222 reads: “Whoever, by secretly burying or otherwise disposing of a child or dead body of a child, whether such a child dies before, during or after its birth, intentionally conceals or endeavors to conceal the birth of such child, commits an offence, and upon conviction, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or with a fine or with both.”
In August, a similar incident occurred at Ajong Boma in Wunrok. The area police detained a woman after her husband accused her of terminating pregnancy.