A High Court sitting in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, has sentenced two brothers to death by hanging for killing a farmer.
The convicts are Uduak Udo Umoren, a 48-year-old pastor and his 34-year-old brother, Emmanuel Udo Umoren, a commercial motorcyclist.
They were found guilty for the murder of Iboro Akpan Joe, a 45-year-old farmer and trader from Ikot Otu in Essien Udim
It was gathered that Joe had accompanied his sister-in-law in Adiasim Ikot Ekon to her late husband’s farm to assess how much she could sell the land and use the proceeds for his burial.
While on the farm, the wife of the second convict saw them and invited her husband to the land on the claim that someone was trying to bury a charm on their family land.
Emmanuel alongside his wife, her son and brother in-law were said to have attacked Joe with a machete and stabbed him with broken bottles on the farm.
Joe was said to have been beaten to a stupor and dragged to his family compound close to the farm, despite pleas from his sister-in-law and his wife, who heard him cry for help and rushed to the scene.
The two brothers continued to beat Joe at the family compound until the Youth President of Adiasim Ikot Ekon Village and other members intervened, and rushed him to a hospital in Ikot Ekpene, where he was reportedly rejected.
He was taken back home and died three days after.
The presiding judge, Justice Winifred Effiong, found the two brothers guilty of murder and sentenced them to death by hanging.
The court held that the prosecution team from the state Ministry of Justice proved the case beyond reasonable doubt that the brothers intentionally killed Joe.