Rapist weeps as court sentences him to death

An Akwa Ibom State high court sitting in Ikot Ekpene has sentenced a 31-year-old man, Nsikak Joseph Udofia, to death for armed robbery and rape.

Nsikak Udofia, an indigene of Utu Edem Usung in Ikot Ekpene LGA, was found guilty of robbery and rape and convicted by Justice Augustine Odokwo.

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According to the prosecutor, Udofia raped a 16-year-old Senior Secondary 2 student on January, 21, 2018, in an uncompleted building in Utu Edem Usung.

The prosecutor further told the court that three weeks before the rape incident, Udofia, a secondary school dropout, and others now at large, robbed a cobbler, Gabriel Akpan Victor, on December 31, 2017, while on his way home from work, dispossessing him of N2,350, a torchlight, two knives, a roll of black thread and two slippers. 

In his judgement, Justice Odokwo found the accused guilty of the two-count charge punishable under Section 1 Sub-Section 1 of the Robbery and Firearms Special Provisions Act, Laws of the Federation, and Section 367 of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Laws of Akwa Ibom State, 2000.

The court held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused committed the offenses.

In the first count charge of robbery, Justice Odokwo sentenced Nsikak Joseph Udofia to death by hanging, praying God to have mercy on his soul.

In the second count charge of rape, the court held that Nsikak Joseph Udofia shall serve a life sentence in Ikot Ekpene correctional centre.

After the judgment, the convict wept in the courtroom, begging for mercy.