Emotions ran high at Juba magistrate’s court on Thursday as a young man pleaded guilty to strangling, burning and burying his 24-year-old girlfriend, Susan Nunu.

In terms of plea agreement with the state, 27-year-old Thomas Nelson pleaded guilty to the muder of his girlfriend on Christmas day 2014.

He was sentence to 15 years in prison, five of which were suspended. He will serve 10 years in Juba Maximum Prison.

In his plea, Nelson, said on the night of the murder, he and Nunu argued because he refused to walk Nunu home.

“She started quarreling with me and that when I became angry and I walked up to her and grabbed her by the throat. When I let go of her throat, she fell down. I tried to shake her and realized she was dead”, said Nelson.

Nunu’s dismembered and burnt body was found in a shallow grave behind Nelson house on December 26. Her hands and feet have been hacked off.

Nunu had been studying electrical engineering at FET college in Kampala, Uganda.

( Additional info via Juba Monitor)