Rock City homicide prompts municipal security revamp

By Kitab Unango
The gruesome killing of three Rock City-based children which sent a shockwave across the nation has prompted the police to scale up efforts to revamp security within Juba.
The murder of the trio earlier this month also sparked outrage within the presidency, compelling Salva Kiir to issue a directive to the law enforcement agencies to apprehend the suspects.
Last week, the police identified Babu Emmanuel Lokiri, a 24-year-old fourth-year medical student at the University of Juba as a suspect in connection with what the government described as “callous murder”.
The law enforcement agents also apprehended several suspects of recent and past crimes committed in the country, including the palpable homicide incident in Rock City.
The suspects will be dragged to the court of law to answer charges labeled against them each for justice and bring an end to crimes committed with impunity in South Sudan, according to the Inspector General of Police Majak Akech.
Akech said the suspects apprehended included assassins of the Juba University’s lecturer who was shot dead early this year near Gudele Police Station as well as culprits who killed a priest in Ciubet, of former Gok State.
Assuring the citizens of police full protection, Akech pointed out that unlike before, the police have currently styled their system of operation to ensure the maximum safety of every individual residing in the country, especially in the capital Juba.
“I can tell the Citizens that it was some years back when we had a crisis in the country in 2016-2017. The situations in Juba those years have changed compared to the situation of 2018, 2019, and 2020. Those groups who named themselves to be unknown gunmen are now known. They are not there anymore. We made those groups be known instead to be unknown,” Akech said.
“I can give some number of cases that happened in our absentia and we managed to apprehend the criminals including the killing of a priest in former Gok State, a lecturer at the University of Juba, a Sergeant killed in a house in Mangaten in August 2019, and a businesswoman in Juba. We managed to apprehend all these suspects including weapons they used to commit the crimes and they are now in prisons to face justice” he added.
This is the first time police have publicly revealed identities of suspects of capital offenses committed in the country and called on the public to cooperate with the police in preventing crimes.
Akech further warned members of a notorious group called “Niggas” to shun hostilities or face tough policing action.
2019 has seen the flattening of the curve in crime rate. However, the situation drastically changed this year as cases of felony, mostly involving murder soared.