Family members of two robbers from Akwa Ibom wept as High Court, Okoita in Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area of the state slammed a 56-year imprisonment on the duo.
The convicts, 28-year-old Nsikan Friday Tom, aka Nokia and Augustine Gregory, 27, were sentenced by Presiding Judge, Justice Okon Okon on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, for robbing a passenger who boarded a tricycle at Okokon Etuk Street in Uyo.
The court, however, discharged and acquitted the third accused person, Daniel Okon, of all three counts of conspiracy, robbery and membership of an unlawful society.
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Justice Okon, while delivering the judgement, which lasted for half an hour, said the court found the duo guilty of two out of the three counts.
He, therefore, sentenced them to 21 years imprisonment for robbery and seven years for conspiracy and held that the sentences should run concurrently.
The court held that although the prosecution did not prove that the robbery involved the use of a gun, there was ample evidence that the victim was robbed of his Lenovo laptop and Gionee M5 phone by the two convicts on August 7, 2016.
The judge discharged and acquitted the convicts of the charge of membership of a secret cult, saying “there is no law incriminating or punishing the making of confessional statements to the police anywhere.’’
The court explained that “the prosecution was seeking the conviction of the defendants because they confessed at the police headquarters, Ikot Akpan Abia, to be members of an unlawful society.”
On hearing the judgment, the family members of the convicts wept uncontrollably at the court premises.
