ETIM EFFIONG
An Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Ikot Ekpene has sentenced one Nsikak Joseph Udofia, aged 31, to death for armed robbery and life imprisonment for rape in the state.
The convict, a native of Utu Edem Usung in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area of the state, was convicted by Justice Augustine Odokwo, having found him guilty of robbery and rape.
Udofia, as well as others now at large, were said to have “robbed a shoe mender, Gabriel Akpan Victor, of his torchlight, two knives, a roll of black thread, two palm slippers and a cash sum of two thousand, three hundred and fifty Naira while on his way home from work on 31st December 2017.”
Three weeks after, the convict was also said to have raped a 16-year-old SS 2 student in an uncompleted building in Utu Edem Usung, Ikot Ekpene on 21st January, 2018.
In a two-hour judgement, the trial judge, Justice Augustine Odokwo, found the accused guilty of the two-count charge, which is punishable under Section One sub-one of Robbery and Firearms Special Provisions Act, Laws of the Federation and Section three-six-seven of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Laws of Akwa Ibom State, 2000.
The court held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt that the accused person committed the offences.
In the first count charge of robbery, Justice Odokwo sentenced Nsikak Joseph Udofia to death by hanging, praying God to have mercy on his soul.
In the second count charge of rape, the Court held that Nsikak Joseph Udofia shall serve a life sentence in Ikot Ekpene Correctional Centre.
Justice Odokwo held that “the sentence is to run consecutively as the offense of rape is prevalent in Ikot Ekpene.”
He ordered the Clerk of the Court to keep in her safe custody, all the exhibits pending appeal, if any, and return them to the parties that tendered the exhibits, if after the period allowed for appeal, no notice of appeal is filed.
The convict, however, wept in the courtroom, begging the Judge to temper justice with mercy on him.
