A soldier, Corporal Stephen Iweh of the Nigerian Army’s 6 Battalion, Ibagwa in Abak, has been sentenced to death by the Akwa – IBOM State High Court for the murder of a traveller who had offered him a lift.
Justice Bassey Nkanang why delivering the Judgement on Friday upheld that the prosecutor has 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 incident occurred on May 23, 2021, along the East-West Road in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area.
The victim identified as Jimmy, was a manager with a clearing and forwarding company in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, had given Iweh a free ride from Trailer Park, Onne, Rivers State, to Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom.
Court records showed that at Oboro Junction, Ikot Abasi, the soldier—armed with an AK-47 rifle he had illegally kept since picking it up in Dambou, Borno State, in 2018—shot Jimmy in the head before fleeing with his vehicle and other valuables.
Investigations revealed that Iweh, a father of three recruited into the Nigerian Army in 2002, had abandoned his duty post at the Army Store in Abak to carry out the crime. He was later tracked to Andy Guest House in Ukanafun, where he was arrested and the rifle recovered.
Justice Nkanang convicted Iweh on a three-count charge and sentenced 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 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.