Two brothers were found guilty of murdering a farmer over a plot of land by the Akwa Ibom State High Court, which is located in Essien Udim.
Uduak Udo Umoren, a pastor and motorbike rider, age 48, and Emmanuel Udo Umoren, a farmer and panel beater, age 34, are both natives of Adiasim Ikot Ekon Village in the Essien Udim Local Government Area.
They were found guilty of killing Iboro Akpan Joe, a farmer and merchant from Ikot Otu, also in Essien Udim, who was 45 years old, when he went to see his sister-in-law in Adiasim Ikot Ekon to express his condolences after the passing of her husband.
The deceased had been requested to go with the sister-in-law to the farmland of her late husband to determine how much she could get for his burial.
According to reports, the second convict’s wife came upon them while on the property and alerted her husband to the fact that someone was attempting to bury juju on their private property.
When they arrived at the farms, the second inmate began thrashing the dead man while his wife invited her son and her brother-in-law, who also engaged in hitting him with a machete and stabbing him with broken bottles.
The dead was beaten into a coma and brought to his family compound near the farm, where his wife and sister-in-law, who had heard the cries for aid and came to the scene, tried to intervene but were ignored.
The deceased was being beaten at the family compound by the two inmates until the youths of Adiasim Ikot Ekon Village, led by their president, rescued him and took him to the General Hospital, Ikot Ekpene, where he was turned away from medical attention.
Furthermore, it was learned that the deceased was returned to his village, where he passed away three days after the occurrence.
The two defendants were found guilty of murder in the presiding judge’s opinion, and she condemned them to death by hanging.
She claimed that the prosecution team from the State Ministry of Justice had established its case without a shadow of a doubt that the defendants had killed the deceased on purpose.
