Two prosecution witnesses corroborated their pieces of evidence to convince the jury over the gruesome murder of Iniubong Umoren in Akwa Ibom State.
This took place Monday as the trial of Uduak Frank Akpan, the prime suspect, alongside his father and elder sister, continued at Akwa Ibom High Court, Uyo.
The best friend of the deceased, Miss Uduak Joseph Umoh, set the tone of the evidence as the third prosecution witness.
Miss Umoh, a resident of Lekki in Lagos, told the Court that the late Iniubong Umoren had on 29th of April this year, told her that she was going for a job interview in Uruan Local Government Area, but that did not have transport fare.
The witness who was a course mate to late Iniubong Umoren in the Department of Philosophy, University of Uyo, said the situation prompted her to transfer N2,000 to Iniubong Umoren’s bank account to enable her pay her way for the job hunt.
She said before leaving Uyo for Uruan, Iniubong Umoren had sent the phone number of the person she was going to meet to her sister, Ifiok Umoren and the location of the job interview.
Miss Umoh, who is currently serving as NYSC member, narrated that after sometime, Iniubong Umoren informed her that she has arrived the venue of the job interview in Uruan and that she has also met the person who invited her for the job.
The witness said she was shocked to her marrow when suddenly Iniubong Umoren sent her a voice note on Whatsapp, screaming which prompted her to call Umoren on phone only to hear her screaming and the call ended abruptly.
She said she called the number repeatedly without any response, a development which informed her to make posts on social media tagging the face of Uduak Frank Akpan, the accused person, whose picture was gotten from his Facebook page.
The witness told that the Court in the social media posts, one Miriam Akpan commented that she knew Uduak Frank Akpan and that she has also been a victim of his fake job interview in his hometown, Uruan, where he sexually assaulted her, took her nude pictures and seized her phone with support of his sister, Bassey Anwan Akpan who is the third accused person in the charge.
After giving her evidence, Miss Umoh was crossed examined.
Thereafter, the fourth prosecution witness and elder sister of the deceased, Miss Ifiok Umoren in her own evidence, corroborated the testimony of the third prosecution witness.
Miss Ifiok Umoren told the Court that she had reported the missing of her younger sister to the Police in Uruan, who told her to wait for 48 hours before coming back to the Station for the complaint.
She said at the expiration of the 48 hours, on 1st May, 2021, she went to the Anti Kidnapping Unit of Akwa Ibom State Police Command’s Headquarters, Ikot Akpan Abia, she was told that Uduak Frank Akpan has confessed that he killed Iniubong Umoren and buried her in a shallow grave in his residence, Uruan.
Before adjournment of the matter, the presiding judge, Justice Bassey Nkanang had made a case for lawyers to take steps towards reviewing the 48 hours rule on Police investigation of missing persons, as such could save lives of missing people who are on danger.
The case has been adjourned to tomorrow, November 16, 2021 for the evidence of the Medical Doctor who carried out the autopsy report and the Investigation Police Officer.
