Court sentences Uduak Akpan to death for Iniubong Umoren murder

Akwa Ibom State High Court on Thursday sentenced Uduak Akpan to death by hanging for the murder of Iniubong Umoren.

Justice Bassey Nkanang convicted Akpan for the rape and murder of Umoren.

Umoren, a graduate of Philosophy, University of Uyo, was killed on April 2021.

She was job hunting while awaiting mobilisation for the compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.

Akpan confessed to committing the crime, saying he was ready to die if found guilty but recounted his confession days later.

He claimed to have killed Iniubong in self-defence, after she allegedly accepted his proposal for consensual sex and later attacked him.

“When I met her, I asked her whether she would like to work in a hard drug farm and she agreed,” Akpan said. “When we got to the house, I asked her for sex and she agreed and insisted I use condom.

“It was when I tried to remove the condom that she picked up the stabilizer and hit me and blood was coming out of my head.

“At that point, I grabbed the stabilizer and hit her, trying to make her submit peacefully. It was not my intention to kill her, but if at the end of everything I am found guilty, I am ready to also die.”