An
Akwa Ibom high court sitting in Ikot Ekpene has sentenced a 31-year-old man,
Nsikak Joseph Udofia to death for armed robbery.
Udofia
was convicted by Justice Augustine Odokwo after he was found guilty of robbery
and rape.
The
convict, alongside others who are still at large, had robbed a shoe mender, Gabriel Akpan Victor, of his torchlight, two knives, a roll of black thread,
two palm slippers, and a cash sum of two thousand, three hundred and fifty Naira
on his way home from work on 31st December 2017.
Three
weeks after the incident Udofia defiled a 16-year-old SS 2 student in an
uncompleted building in Utu Edem Usung, Ikot Ekpene.
The
accused was found guilty of both crimes which are punishable under Section One
sub-one of Robbery and Firearms Special Provisions Act, Laws of the Federation
and Section three-six-seven of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Laws of Akwa Ibom
State, 2000.
The
trial judge stated that the prosecution had proven beyond reasonable doubt that
the accused was responsible for the crime.
In
the first count charge of robbery, Justice Odokwo sentenced Nsikak Joseph
Udofia to death by hanging, while in the second count of rape he was sentenced
to life imprisonment.
The
judge stated that the sentences would run consecutively as the offense of rape
is prevalent in Ikot Ekpene.
