The Akwa Ibom State High Court in Uyo on Friday sentenced Corporal Stephen Iweh, a dismissed soldier from the Nigerian Army’s 6 Battalion, Ibagwa in Abak, to de@th by hanging for the brutal m^rder and robbery of 42-year-old Christopher Enobong Jimmy.
The court also convicted Iweh on charges of armed robbery and unlawful possession of firearms, delivering a second death sentence for the robbery and a 10-year imprisonment term for the firearms offense.
The tragic incident occurred on May 23, 2021, along the East-West Road in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area.
According to reports, the late Christopher Jimmy, a manager at a Clearing and Forwarding Company in Port Harcourt, had offered Iweh, then 39, a ride in his Toyota Matrix from Trailer Park in Onne, Rivers State, to Ikot Abasi.
At Oboro Junction in Ikot Abasi, Iweh fatally shot Jimmy with an illegally acquired AK-47 rifle, stole the vehicle and valuables, and fled the scene.
Investigations revealed that Iweh, a father of three from Ameke Nkor in Ngor Okpala, Imo State, had abandoned his duty post at the Army Store in Ibagwa on the day of the crime.
The AK-47 used in the murder was one he admitted to keeping as a personal weapon after “picking it up” in Dambou, Borno State, in 2018, without authorization.
Following the crime, Iweh was traced to Andy Guest House in Ukanafun, where he was apprehended, and the rifle was recovered.
Delivering the judgment, Hon. Justice Bassey Nkanang ruled that the prosecution had proven beyond reasonable doubt that Iweh murdered Jimmy, robbed him while armed, and unlawfully possessed the firearm.
The court dismissed Iweh’s plea for a “soft landing,” convicting him on all three counts.
The late Christopher Jimmy, an indigene of Ikot Abasi, left behind his 34-year-old widow, Arit, who shared her grief in court.
She recounted that her husband had traveled from Port Harcourt to visit his sister and family in Ikot Abasi but never returned home.
The ruling brings closure to a case that has left the community in mourning, underscoring the court’s firm stance against violent crime.
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