Destiny James Okon, 36, was sentenced to death for armed robbery by the Akwa Ibom State High Court in Uyo, presided over by Justice Archibong Archibong.
Okon, a native of Ikot Andem Itam in Akwa Ibom State’s Itu Local Government Area, was sentenced on Tuesday, February 22, after the Court found him guilty of robbing Ubotex warehouse in Ifa Ikot Okpon, Uyo, on December 15, 2015.
However, in a two-hour ruling, Justice Archibong discharged and acquitted two other accused persons, 40-year-old Ikechukwu Eme of Anambra State and Nwaigbo Kelechi, 36, of Ebonyi State, of the charges.
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The trio was facing a three-count charge of conspiracy, armed robbery, and unlawful possession of firearms.
Destiny Okon told police that Ikechukwu Eme, the second accused person, told him he had a job to monitor when he took him to the Ubotex warehouse in broad daylight and posed as customers before returning at night to rob the warehouse.
He explained that on the 15th of December, 2015, one “Hausaman, Musa” called him to assist him in obtaining custody of some Cameroon Zinc, which he accepted and took to his father’s house in Okobo, Ibiono Ibom.
He also told the court that Eme, who he claimed buys scrap items, was invited to buy the zinc but told “Musa” that he would not buy the items because they had not been scrapped unless Musa provided receipts.
The first accused stated that Musa had not returned since that time until he was apprehended on December 18, 2015.
Justice Archibong ruled in the case HU/63C/2015 that “it is obvious that the acclaimed Hausaman ‘Musa” is a fictitious person manufactured by the accused persons with the intention of misleading the Police in the course of investigation.”
He described it as “an attempt to mislead this Court into believing that someone else committed the offense of armed robbery or that the first accused person did not participate in the robbery.”
The Court also determined that the prosecution’s case was established beyond a reasonable doubt by circumstantial evidence of the Doctrine of Recent Possession.
“It was a clear violation of the presumption in Section 419 of the Evidence Act 2019, which is now Section 107 (5) of the Evidence Act 2010, which is the statutory version of the English Doctrine of Recent Possession.” It could not have happened otherwise if a person is discovered in possession of property that was properly reported to have been recently stolen from another person, with or without violence.
“From the totality of the evidence in this case, I can conclude that Musa is a figment of the accused persons’ imagination.” You’ve been sentenced to death. You will die in the manner directed by the Governor of Akwa Ibom State. God bless you and have mercy on your soul.” The court ruled.
