An Akwa Ibom State High Court, sitting in Ikot Ekpene, has sentenced Christopher Udoh to death by hanging for killing his 11-year-old son, Gabriel, over the suspicion that he was a witch.
Udoh, a native of Obot Akara Local Government Area, reportedly murdered his son, who hje accused of using witchcraft powers to frustrate him for years.
The court held that the convict, who admitted to committing the offence, deliberately killed Gabriel for allegedly causing his failure in his business in Benin, the Edo State capital.
Udoh said: “After my inability to have a serious breakthrough in business, I discovered that my son could have been responsible. When I could no longer carry on with the business, I was stranded in Benin. I had to return home with nothing.”
The convict recalled that every attempt he made to break even became difficult, even to get married “since his mother was no longer with me, following years of hardship that she could not bear”.
He added: “For me to free myself of such spell, I killed him, burnt his body and dumped the remains in a pit.”
Udoh pleaded for the court’s leniency and for God to have mercy on him because it was the devil that used him to kill his son.
Delivering the judgment yesterday, Justice Joy Unwana said he found the accused guilty of murder, as stipulated in Section 316 (1) of the criminal laws of Akwa Ibom State.