An Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Ikot Ekpene has sentenced a 31-year-old man, Nsikak Udofia, to death for armed robbery and life imprisonment for rape.
A native of Utu Edem Usung in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area, Udofia was convicted by Justice Augustine Odokwo, after being found guilty of robbery and rape.
The convict, a secondary school dropout, and others now at large were said to have “robbed a shoe meander, one Gabriel Akpan Victor, of his torchlight, two knives, a roll of black thread, two palm slippers and a cash sum of two N2,350 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 Senior Secondary School two student in an uncompleted building in Utu Edem Usung, Ikot Ekpene on 21st January 2018.
Delivering judgement which lasted for two hours, the trial judge, Justice Augustine Odokwo found the accused guilty of the two-count charge, which is punishable under Section(1) sub-(1) of the Robbery and Firearms Special Provisions Act, Laws of the Federation and Section 367 of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Laws of Akwa Ibom State, 2000.
The court held that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused person committed the offenses.
In the first count charge of robbery, Justice Odokwo sentenced Nsikak Udofia to death by hanging, praying to God to have mercy on his soul.
In the second count charge of rape, the Court held that Nsikak 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 wept in the courtroom, begging the judge to temper justice with mercy on him.