Ini Billie, Uyo
Two brothers, one a pastor and the other, a motorcyclist are to die by hanging for killing a farmer over a parcel of land.
The Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Essien Udim sentenced Uduak Udo Umoren, a 48-year-old Pastor and his 34-year-old brother Emmanuel Udo Umoren, popularly called ‘okada’ for beating a farmer and panel beater to death.
The brothers were found guilty of the murder of one Iboro Akpan Joe, a 45-year-old farmer and a trader from Ikot Otu in Essien Udim Local Government Area.
It was gathered that the deceased had accompanied his sister-in-law in Adiasim Ikot Ekon to her late husband’s farm to assess how much she could sell the land and use the proceeds for the burial of her husband.
It was learnt that while on the farm, the wife of one of the convicts, Emmanuel Udo Umoren, saw them and invited her husband to the land on the claim that someone was trying to bury a charm on their family land.
Umoren alongside his wife, her son and her brother-in-law were said to have beaten the deceased with a machete and stabbed him with broken bottles when they got to the farm.
The deceased was said to have been beaten to a state of comatose and dragged to his family compound close to the farm, despite pleas from his sister-in-law and his wife, who heard his cry for help and rushed to the scene.
It was learnt that at the family compound, the two convicts continued to beat the deceased until the Youth President of Adiasim Ikot Ekon Village and other members intervened, and rushed him to the General Hospital in Ikot Ekpene, where he was rejected for treatment.
Due to the rejection by the hospital, 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.
The court ruled that the prosecution team from the State Ministry of Justice had proven the case beyond reasonable doubt that the accused intentionally killed the deceased.