South Sudan People’s Defense Force (SSPDF) soldiers stationed in Butagok Payam in Awerial County in Lakes State on Tuesday manhandled and gave a midwife supervisor 150 strokes of the cane leading to severe injuries on his backside.

David Mabil Magot, who was recently transferred by the health ministry from Mapuordit Hospital to Butagok Payam, said the soldiers tortured and beat him for inadvertently crossing a nondescript checkpoint marked by ashes on the ground.

“The reason I was beaten is that my colleague and I came from Mapuordit where I was working as a midwife to Butagok Payam where I was transferred to work as a midwife supervisor,” he narrated.

“We went to a nearby market in Mingkaman and my colleague asked me to buy some meat from the butchery but we did not know that there was ash spread on the ground to demarcate the area of the army. So, we crossed the ash unknowingly and the soldiers called us and asked us to remove our shoes. We tried to apologize but some heartless soldiers insisted on beating us and they took me to the bush and lashed me 150 times.”

“I am receiving treatment in a private clinic and I am now on ceftriaxone, gentamicin, and also taking painkillers and amoxicillin capsules,” Mabil added.

Writhing in pain, he said is unable to sit because his buttocks are severely wounded.

“The commissioner told us that the soldiers have been arrested but they are loitering freely on the streets of Awerial,” Mabil said. “Nothing has been done to them since they beat me up.”

When contacted, James Manyiel Agup, the county medical officer in Awerial County, however, insisted that soldiers who brutalized the midwife have been arrested and are being investigated by their respective units.

“There was indeed an incident in which one of our midwife nurses was given 150 lashes at midday on Tuesday in Mingakaman by SSPDF soldiers,” he said. “He is now admitted to the hospital and is still unable to sit.”

Manyiel said the mandate of the army is to protect citizens and not harm them.