A female witness in the trial of Uduak Akpan, accused of allegedly killing job-seeker, Iniubong Umoren, told the court how the accused on December 5, 2020, lured her to his house with a fake job offer.
Iniubong, a University of Uyo Philosophy graduate was allegedly killed by Akpan after luring her to his apartment with a fake job offer.
Narrating her ordeal at the resumed trial, one Miriam Akpan told Akwa Ibom State High Court in Uyo she had arrived at Akpan’s house in Uruan Local Government Area by 5 p.m. and left around 1 a.m.
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“He said that in the farm, they deal on drugs and that the government knows about it, and before he employs anybody, he has to test the drugs on the person. I pleaded with him but he said that if the drug was too much on me, that there is tonic water that he will give me to drink to flush the drug out of my system.
”I was really begging him and he said if I wanted to go, I have to do as he said. He said I should stand up immediately and take the drugs.
”He brought out three wraps of marijuana from his pocket. He lit two. He gave me one and showed me how to inhale it, while he was smoking one. I smoked the first one, nothing happened to me.
”He lit the second one and was taking me round the compound and asking me if I could still recognise what was in front of me. I said yes.
”He gave me the second one, and still nothing happened to me. He told me that I needed to help him, that he was high and needed to release. I started crying and begged him. But after, I removed my trouser and he raped me,” the 7th prosecution witness said.
She said Akpan later forced her to undress and photographed her nakedness.
“I was begging him to let me go. He now said I should undress totally. He took out his phone and snapped pictures of me naked. After that, he said I should wait, that he would call a bike to come and pick me up,” she said.
The female witness said she did not tell anyone about the incident because Mr Akpan threatened to kill her if she did.
Court refuses to grant second, third defendants bail
Meanwhile, the court on Wednesday refused to admit to bail Mr. Frank Akpan, and his daughter, Anwan Bassey Akpan, the second and third defendants respectively in the alleged murder of job seeker Iniubong.
The second and third accused persons are standing trial on a charge of accessory after the fact to murder.
The Counsel representing the duo, Emms Ekongson had, on Wednesday, made an oral application to the court to admit his clients to bail “for the sake of Justice and for the fact that the health of the second accused person was deteriorating. It is visible that he (Frank Akpan) is waning away”
According to Ekongson, the offense of which the duo was charged is a bailable offense, stressing adding, “it is not a capital offense. My Lord, there is no likelihood that they will jump bail if granted bail.”
But ruling on the bail application, Justice Nkanang said there was no evidence brought before the Court to prove that the second accused person has any medical condition.
Nkanang held that granting the bail application was at the discretion of the court which must be judicially and judiciously exercised.
He further held that since eight of the prosecution witnesses have so far testified, and only about four are remaining, adding that instead of granting bail, the court would rather continue to hear the case in an accelerated manner “with a view to determining the fate of the accused person within earliest possible time”.
The trial Judge, therefore, denied the application for bail for lacking in merit.
However, the case has been adjourned to January 14, 2022.
