A High Court sitting in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital has sentenced a 52-year-old man to death for murdering his pregnant wife over alleged infidelity.
The accused identified as Nkereuwem Emah, who hails from biabam in Ibiono Ibom local government area of the state was said to have butchered his wife of 12 years to death on February 12, 2018.
In an arraignment on 6th December 2018, the accused had pleaded not guilty to the one count of murder, contrary to Section 326(1) of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Volume 2, Laws of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria, 2000
Testifying against the accused, the 10-year-old son of the deceased, Christian Sylvanus Etim, narrated how his father committed the act against his mother.
According to the testifier, “On 12/2/2018, my father, (the accused person) is a mechanic with the Water Board. On the said date, he used a matchet in the night. My mother was sleeping. He used it and cut my mother. My mother died. The incident took place in the house we all lived in. The village head called the Police in Itam. The Police came and invited me to accompany them to the station.”
Delivering the judgment on Friday, the trial judge, Justice Nkanang described the act as a “callous, inexplicable and inexcusable debasement of the marriage institution.”
He noted that “the nature of the weapon resorted to by the accused person in ventilating his rage at the victim is a clear pointer that indeed, the accused person clearly intended to kill the deceased.”
The court, therefore, held that the accused is sentenced to death, upholding that, “In compliance with the Section 339(2) of the Criminal Procedure Law, Cap 39, Laws of Akwa Ibom State, the sentence of the Court upon you, Nkereuwem Etim Emah is that you be hanged by the neck until you be dead and may the Lord have mercy on your soul”.
Earlier, the accused person had pleaded with the Court to temper justice with mercy and give him another chance to go home and take care of his five children.
