52-year-old man to die by hanging for killing pregnant wife

Nkereuwem Etim Emah, a 52-year-old man is to die by hanging for killing his pregnant wife.

Emah, an indigene of Mbiabam, Ibiono Ibom local government area, Akwa Ibom State, accused his pregnant wife of infidelity.

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The accused, a father of five children, was said to have butchered his wife to death following a confrontation on the paternity of her unborn baby. 

Speaking as a prosecution witness in an Uyo High Court, Christian Sylvanus Etim, the 10-year-old son of the deceased narrated how his father killed his mother.

“On 12/2/2018, my father, (a mechanic with the Water Board), used a matchet in the night when my mother was sleeping, and cut my mother. My mother died,” he said. 

Corroborating the statement, the accused who confessed to the police after he was arrested, said “On February 12, 2018, at about 4.30am, I called my wife to ask how she came about the pregnancy and who is responsible for it. 

“She refused to answer me and I become annoyed. I took the big matchet and cut her right hand. She moved to run away, I cut her again on the neck and she fell down. 

“People around our house told me that one Michael Udoh always sleeps with her anytime I left the house for work,” he said. 

In his judgment, Justice Bassey Nkanang described the act as “callous, inexplicable and inexcusable debasement of the marriage institution.”

“The nature of the weapon resorted to by the accused person in ventilating his rage at the victim are clear pointers that indeed, the accused person clearly intended to kill the deceased.

“The accused person is hereby found guilty of the offense of murder and is accordingly convicted.

“The accused person, Nkereuwem Etim Emah, is hereby sentenced to death in compliance with the Section 339(2) of the Criminal Procedure Law, Cap 39, Laws of Akwa Ibom State.

“The sentence of the court upon you, Nkereuwem Etim Emah, is that you be hanged by the neck until you be dead and may the Lord have mercy on your soul,” the court ruled. 

After the ruling, the convict appealed to the court to temper justice with mercy and give him another chance to go home and take care of his five children.