For beating a man to death following a false alarm, one Uduak Umoren, who is said to be a pastor along with his brother Emmanuel Umoren will hang by their necks until they die.
With the prosecution proving their case that the duo caused the death of Iboro Joe over a piece of land in Essien Udim, an Akwa Ibom state High Court in Essien Udim Local Government Area, on Wednesday, Uduak Umoren, and Emmanuel Umoren, to death for the murder of the 45-year-old farmer and trader.
The PUNCH reported that the convicts and the late Joe hail from Essien Udim.
The slain Joe had visited his sister-in-law in Adiasim Ikot Ekon, a community in Essien Udim Local Government Area, to condole with her on her husband’s death.
According to the woman’s testimony in court, the victim while at Adiasim Ikot Ekon, accompanied her to her late husband’s farmland to figure out how much she could sell the property and use the proceeds for her late husband’s burial.
At the farm according to her, the wife of the second convict saw them and alerted her husband that someone was trying to bury a charm on their family land.
Promptly, the pastor and his brother hurried to the farmland in response to a false alarm. She further narrated to the court that on arriving, the second convict started beating the deceased, while his wife also invited her son and her brother-in-law to join in the fray, cutting the deceased with a machete and broken bottles.
Justice Winifred Effiong found the two brothers guilty of murder and sentenced them to death by hanging.
“The prosecution team from the State Ministry of Justice had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt. The accused did intentionally kill the deceased,” the judge said.