Imagine a sheep sentenced to three years in jail.
Well, this is not a fairy tale. A court in South Sudan found a sheep guilty of killing a woman and sentenced it to three years imprisonment.
According to a report on Sudan’s Eye Radio, the animal was taken into police custody earlier this month after it attacked and killed 45-year-old Adhieu Chaping. The sheep had headbutted Chaping repeatedly, breaking her ribs. She had died immediately.
Police spokesperson Elijah Mabor Makuach had told the media ahead of the trial, “The ram attacked by hitting her ribs and the old woman died immediately.”
“The owner is innocent and the ram is the one who perpetrated the crime so it deserves to be arrested then later on the case shall be forwarded to customary court where the case can be handled amicably,” he added.
But, the owner Duony Manyang Dhal also has to pay something called ‘blood compensation’ to the victim’s kin. He was ordered to give up five of his cows to Chaping’s family.
Last year, a woman in the US died after being attacked by a sheep at a farm. The 73-year-old volunteer Kim Taylor was repeatedly rammed by a sheep while working at a Massachusetts farm that uses animals in mental health therapy, New York Times reported.
Taylor had been caring for livestock in a pen alone when the animal charged at her. She suffered serious injuries and went into cardiac arrest shortly after the police and emergency medical workers arrived, the police said. Taylor was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the report stated.
