Etim Etim Udo V. The State (2015)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

CHIOMA EGONDU NWOSU-IHEME, J.C.A: (Delivering the Leading Judgment)

The Appellant Etim Etim Udo was arraigned before Hon. Justice Stephen Okon of the High Court of Akwa Ibom state, sitting in Ikot Ekpene on a one count charge of murder contrary to Section 326(1) of the Criminal Code Cap. 38 vol.2, Laws of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria, 2000.

The Appellant who was the 5th accused person at the trial Court was charged along with four other accused persons in Charge No.HT/1c/2013.

The prosecution’s case against the accused person was that on the 5th day of July, 2003 at Abiakpo Edem Idim, Ikot Ekpene Judicial Division murdered one Okon Tom Akpan.

The case was at different times taken by three other Judges before fresh plea was taken on the 16th of July, 2009 before Stephen Okon J. Three witnesses testified for the prosecution and various Exhibits were tendered.

The prosecution’s case against the Appellant Etim Etim Udo as presented by Emem Alphonsus Udo who testified as PW1 at the trial Court was that on 5th day of July, 2003 at about 10.00pm the deceased Okon Tom Akpan, whom she described as a Dry Cleaner was

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ironing some cloths in his living room, while she Emem Alphonsus Udo slept in her own room close to the living room in the house of the deceased.

At about 10.00pm, someone knocked on the door and the deceased asked who the person was. The person answered that he was Etim Etim Udo the Appellant. The deceased asked what he was looking for at that time of the night to which Etim Udo replied that he came to collect his clothes which he intended to use the following morning. The deceased then told him to come back the following morning. The Appellant persisted in his plea that he needed the cloth the following morning.

The PW1 described the deceased as a Dry Cleaner at Ikot Ekpene General Hospital and also does his dry cleaning work at home. The deceased eventually opened the door for the Appellant. She heard the deceased saying “what have I done to you,” after that, she did not hear the voice of the deceased again. She said because her room was very close to the living room (parlour) she heard all that transpired. When she didn’t hear the voice of the deceased again, she opened the door of her room and came out to the living room. There in the living room,

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she saw the Appellant and the other four convicts because there was electricity as well as moonlight on that fateful night. When she came out of her room, she pleaded with the Appellant and the other four convicts to leave the deceased alone, the 3rd convict Ofonime Usua Udom pointed a gun at her threatened to kill her if she continued pleading for the deceased. The Appellant and the four convicts then pushed her inside her room and continued beating the deceased whom they eventually took away. She banged on the door and eventually forced the door open. She raised an alarm which attracted a lot of people. The crowd tried to confront the Appellant and his aforementioned group but they scared the crowd away by throwing bottles on them and threatened to kill anybody who dared to come near them. The Appellant and his gang took the deceased to the compound of the father of the 1st convict. There they continued beating the deceased, inflicted cuts all over him until he died. When they saw the crowd, they deposited the deceased by the side of the road and took to their heels.

In a considered judgment delivered on the 24th June, 2013, the Appellant along with

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