Akwa Ibom State High Court in Uyo has sentenced a dismissed Nigerian Army officer, Corporal Stephen Iweh of the 6 Battalion, Ibagwa, Abak, to death by hanging for killing 42-year-old Christopher Enobong Jimmy.
According to report, the incident happened on 23rd May 2021, along the East-West Road in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area.
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It was gathered that, late Jimmy, who was the Manager of a Clearing and Forwarding Company in Port Harcourt, had offered Corporal Iweh a lift in his car from Trailer Park in Onne, Rivers State, to Ikot Abasi in Akwa Ibom.
Along the way, at Oboro Junction in Ikot Abasi, the 39 year-old soldier shot him dead before fleeing with the vehicle and valuables.
Investigations revealed that Corporal Iweh, a father of three children, had illegally kept the AK-47 rifle which he said he “picked at Dambou, Borno State in 2018 and decided to keep it as personal arms”.
On the day of the killing, Corporal Iweh, was supposed to be on duty at the Army Store, 6 Battalion, Ibagwa, Abak, but abandoned his post to commit the crime.
He was later traced to Andy Guest House in Ukanafun, many kilometres away from the crime scene, where he was arrested and the rifle recovered.
Delivering judgment on Friday, the trial judge, Hon. Justice Bassey Nkanang held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that Iweh, 39, a native of Ameke Nkor in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State, murdered Christopher Enobong Jimmy, 42, an indigene of Ikot Abasi, and robbed him of his Toyota Matrix car while armed with an unauthorized AK-47 rifle.
Justice Nkanang convicted him on a three-count charge. He was sentenced to death by hanging for murder, death by hanging for armed robbery, and 10 years imprisonment for unlawful possession of firearms.
The convict’s plea for leniency was rejected, as the victim’s widow, Arit Jimmy, 34, wept in court while recounting how her husband had left Port Harcourt to visit his sister and never returned home.
