An Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo has sentenced a dismissed soldier, Corporal Stephen Iweh of the Nigerian Army’s 6 Battalion, to death by hanging for the murder of a traveller who had offered him a lift. Delivering judgment on Friday, Justice Bassey Nkanang ruled that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that Iweh, 39, murdered Christopher Enobong Jimmy, 42, and robbed him of his Toyota Matrix car while armed with an unauthorized AK-47 rifle.
The crime occurred on May 23, 2021, along the East–West Road in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area. Jimmy, a Port Harcourt-based manager, had given Iweh a free ride from Trailer Park, Onne, Rivers State, to Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom. Court records revealed that Iweh, armed with a rifle he illegally kept after retrieving it in Borno State in 2018, shot Jimmy in the head at Oboro Junction before fleeing with his vehicle and valuables.
He was later arrested at a guest house in Ukanafun, where the weapon was recovered. Justice Nkanang convicted Iweh on three counts, sentencing him to:Death by hanging for murder.Death by hanging for armed robbery. 10 years imprisonment for unlawful possession of firearms. The convict’s plea for leniency was dismissed. The victim’s widow, Arit Jimmy, 34, broke down in court as she recalled how her husband left Port Harcourt to visit his sister and never returned.
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