He was consecrated on 25 March 2022, after waiting for more than 12 months since he was appointed Bishop.
On 25 April 2022, a Juba-based High Court convicted Fr. Mathiang alongside Moris Sebit Ater, Laat Makur Agok, and Samuel Makir for “participating directly or indirectly” in the attempted assassination of Bishop Carlassare.
In the case that was first mentioned on 26 January 2022, Justice Alexander Sebur Subek handed the three a seven-year jail term “without bail under Penal Code 334, 4,335, 2008.”
Mr. Ater and Mr. Makur were sentenced, Justice Sebur Subek said, based on the evidence before the court that the duo “went with ammunition to shoot the bishop in his house” in Rumbek.
A third suspect, Samuel Makir, was handed a five-year jail term having been found guilty of “keeping two guns that were used for the attempted assassination and providing the assassins with Itel phone for communication,” the South Sudanese judge said.
(Story continues below)
In an interview with ACI Africa hours after the Bishop-elect had been shot, a source in Rumbek security officials handling the case in South Sudan’s Lakes State followed leads from “a cell phone” found at the scene of crime.
“When the two men shot the Bishop-elect, one of them dropped down his phone and the Bishop fell on it. It is this phone that the security used to find the people connected,” the source said, explaining how Fr. Mathiang was among the suspects arrested in connection with the shooting of Mons. Carlassare.
A witness testified to the High Court that three suspects in the case were closely related to Fr. Mathiang.
On his part, Fr. Mathiang denied claims that he was part of the plot to shoot the Bishop-elect for Rumbek Diocese when he testified in court on 21 February 2022.
The defence team of Fr. Mathiang appealed the High Court ruling.
In a March 23 report, South Sudan’s Radio Tamazuj quotes the lead defence lawyer of Fr. Mathiang, Dr. Geri Raimondo Legge, recounting the events leading to their client’s acquittal.
“He was sentenced here in Juba by the High Court then later on we appealed to the Court of Appeal of Greater Equatoria but unfortunately the Honorable Court of Appeal confirmed the conviction and sentence of 14 years” Dr. Legge said in reference to Fr. John Mathiang.
He went on to explain, “In South Sudan, any person has the right to appeal up to the Supreme Court which is the highest and the last resort for any aggrieved person. We appealed to the Supreme Court here in Juba and at last ... our father, Fr. John Mathiang Machol was acquitted and he is now at home.”
The March 23 report also quotes Advocate Malith Jokthiang Wundit, a member of Fr. Mathiang’s defence team as saying that their client “was convicted on the allegation and confession of one of the accused persons and there were no independent witnesses, there was no credible evidence connecting him to the crime.”
“Fr. John was also a victim because he was in the same compound where the shooting took place,” Advocate Jokthiang has been quoted as saying, adding, “We argued that you cannot be expected to get out during a shootout, and yet he is not a policeman, but the court viewed that since he was there and he did not take any action he could be one of the accused persons and that is why he was convicted. However, lastly, he has been acquitted.”
In his address to journalists on March 22, Fr. Mathiang turned his attention to the judges of the South Sudan’s High Court and Court of Appeal, who had handed him a seven-year and 14-year jail term respectively, saying, “For those who convicted me, I have nothing to say against them.”
Comparing his conviction to the events of Good Friday, he explained, “I'm not the first person being convicted wrongly in the history of mankind, and especially in the church; it started with Jesus Himself; He was accused falsely and he was convicted on the demand of the what they call the public opinion.”
“Those who convicted me wrongly, it’s a human error; they can do anything that they want to do, but the good Lord will guide us and give the wisdom (He gave) the judges of the Supreme Court to make the right decision and to come out with the truth that they have given,” he continued.
Fr. Mathiang added that he had “good news for” those he said “have been misunderstanding me and have stood on the mountain of revenge”.
“I’m innocent. Take the courage and let us join our hands together at the foot of the cross where Jesus took up all our sin upon himself and to reconcile us with God and with one another,” he said, and added, “I’m ready to receive everybody, and I have no grudges against any person.”
Fr. Mathiang said he had “enjoyed” his prison experience, and that his fellow inmates regarded him as “their brothers.
“I did not look at my stay in prison as a punishment but considered it a call of God to witness another form of life; I had to strengthen the faith of my brothers who are facing similar situations or even worse than what I have been facing,” he said.
Fr. Mathiang called upon inmates to exercise patience, trusting in the Lord. “God who created you will never abandon you,” he said.
ACI Africa was founded in 2019. We provide free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Catholic Church in Africa, giving particular emphasis to the words of the Holy Father and happenings of the Holy See, to any person with access to the internet. ACI Africa is proud to offer free access to its news items to Catholic dioceses, parishes, and websites, in order to increase awareness of the activities of the universal Church and to foster a sense of Catholic thought and culture in the life of every Catholic.
