Elderly and outcast: 90-year-old Yata Jane demands justice

South Sudan’s Transitional Constitution promised its citizens that torture and degrading treatment is forbidden, but Yata Jane says much more needs to be done.  

Her community forced her to leave her home and separate from her family after she was accused of killing someone in her village.

Before she managed to flee, the old lady was almost stoned to death. When I realised the mob was aiming to kill her I quickly got up and called the police that took her for safety, as I and others helped to find her a place to stay,” Alex Jalan, a witness and  relative, said.

Yata Jane’s former house, April 4. © The Niles | Ochan HanningtonShe is now in the care of the United Methodist Church, in Yei. She is totally helpless. She needs someone by her side,” Pastor Amos Taban said. We decided to take her in.”

Yata feels secure in her new home but she wants to be among her family again. I want to live and die amid my children and grandchildren,” she told The Niles. I was not given opportunity to defend myself,” Yata said, stressing that she is innocent. I am here all alone.”

Yata lived with her family in Hai-Gezeera, Yei town for five years until she was thrown out of her village in January 2013. She got thrown out because the community thought she would kill more people, if she stayed. Yata says she was wrongly judged in a community gathering.

Local legal experts say that the punishment is unconstitutional. Yei County Legal Adviser, PPA Wafe Khemis said there is no legal basis for a community to expel a South Sudan national from their homes or property. Such acts are unacceptable,” she said.

Yata needs to open a case against the perpetrators because nobody has the power to force anyone out of their homes or forcefully separate anyone from their family,” she said.

But Yata, who is illiterate and increasingly immobile, would need outside help to initiate a court case.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a family member said that the old woman is innocent of all allegations,” but said they could not speak out for the fear of retaliation. I keep crying deep inside me. She was treated inhumanly,” the source said. The situation was beyond our control to handle.”