KINGSLEY EBERE
A 48-year old Pastor, Uduak Udo Umoren and his younger brother, Emmanuel Udo Umoren, 34, have been sentenced to death for killing a 45-year old farmer, Ibiro Akpan Joe, over a parcel of land in Akwa Ibom State.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the incident happened at Adiasim Ikot Ekon Village in Essien Udim Local Government Area of the State.
The two brothers were sentenced to death by an Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Essien Udim having found them guilty for conspiracy and murder under the Criminal law of the State.
They were condemned for the murder of the late Joe, who was a farmer and trader from Ikot Otu also in Essien Udim, when he visited his sister-in-law in Adiasim Ikot Ekon to condole with her on the death of her husband.
The sister-in-law had asked the deceased to accompany her to her late husband’s farmland to assess how much she could sell it for his burial.
It was gathered that, while on the land, the wife of the second convict saw them and called her husband, informing him that someone was trying to bury juju on their family land.
On getting to the farmland, the second convict beat the deceased while his wife also invited her son and her brother-in-law who joined in beating the deceased with a machete, stabbing him with broken bottles.
The plea of the sister-in-law and the deceased’s wife, who heard the cry for help and rushed to the scene, fell on deaf ears as the deceased was beaten to a state of coma and dragged to his family compound close to the farm.
At the family compound, the two convicts continued to beat the deceased until the youths of Adiasim Ikot Ekon Village led by their President rescued him and rushed him to the General Hospital, Ikot Ekpene, where he was rejected from being treated.
It was also gathered that the deceased was taken back to his village, where he died three days after the incident.
In her judgment, the Presiding Judge, Justice Winifred Effiong, found the two brothers guilty of murder and sentenced them to death by hanging accordingly.
She said the prosecution team from the State Ministry of Justice had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt that the accused did intentionally kill the deceased and they should be hanged on their neck until they die.