An Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Essien Udim has sentenced a 36-year-old woman, Uwakmfon Isaac Jonah, to life imprisonment for the attempted murder of a 12-year-old girl after finding her guilty of luring the child into a bush and inflicting life-threatening injuries on her.
Justice Winifred Effiong delivered the judgment on June 25, convicting Jonah on a one-count charge of attempted murder contrary to Section 276 of the Criminal Code, Cap 38 Vol. 2, Laws of Akwa Ibom State, 2022.
The convict, a hairdresser and divorcee from Ikot Obong in Afaha Clan, Essien Udim Local Government Area, committed the offence on July 20, 2023, when she lured the victim away from Urua Akpan Market before attacking her with a knife, leaving her with severe injuries to her neck and eye.
The case drew widespread attention in Akwa Ibom following the attack, with residents expressing outrage over the assault on the young girl. The incident also renewed concerns about child safety and the vulnerability of children to deceptive tactics used by criminals.
According to the victim’s statement tendered before the court, she had accompanied her mother, a pepper trader, to Urua Akpan Market where she was hawking fresh pepper when the defendant approached her under the pretext of buying the commodity.
The girl told the court that the woman claimed an elderly customer wanted to purchase pepper but could not walk to the market. She further told the child that her mother was cultivating waterleaf in a nearby bush and could make payment there if the child accompanied her.
Trusting the woman, the victim followed her into the bush.
Recounting the incident, the victim said:
“I followed the lady because she put on a nice dress. Reaching the road to the bush, I told her that the road is too far that I can’t continue the movement again.
“At that juncture, the lady held me and I ran from the bush. The lady ran after me and I fell down inside the bush and the lady held my clothes and tied it on my mouth that is where I could not shout for help.
“She brought a knife from the bag and cut my left eye blow and my right side of my neck and the lady ran away. The bush is close to Urua Akpan market in Essien Udim.”
Jonah was arraigned before the court on August 12, 2024. The charge was read and interpreted to her in Annang language, after which she pleaded not guilty.
During the trial, the prosecution called three witnesses and tendered both the defendant’s statement and the victim’s statement as exhibits.
While testifying in her defence, the convict admitted approaching the child at the market and taking her into the bush. However, she denied attacking the victim, claiming she handed the child over to another woman who was allegedly cultivating waterleaf nearby.
The defendant, however, failed to provide the identity, address or any description of the alleged woman.
In her judgment, Justice Effiong described the defence as unsubstantiated and unbelievable.
The court held that the prosecution successfully established that Jonah was the person who lured the victim away from the market into the bush before the attack.
Justice Effiong noted that several independent pieces of evidence corroborated the victim’s testimony, including the injuries sustained by the child, the defendant’s admission that she took the victim into the bush and the victim’s immediate identification of the defendant while receiving treatment at Saint Mary’s Hospital, Urua Akpan.
The judge also observed that the defendant failed to provide any credible explanation regarding the alleged third party she claimed to have handed the child over to.
The court ruled that the circumstances clearly established an intention to kill.
“The defendant lured a vulnerable child away from the safety of a public market and into a secluded bush. The child sustained a deep cut to the neck and injuries to the eye.
“The neck is one of the most vital and vulnerable parts of the human body. A person who deliberately inflicts a deep cut on the neck of a helpless child must be presumed to intend the natural and probable consequences of such an act.
“The fact that the child survived does not negate the intention,” the court held.
Justice Effiong further ruled that the prosecution proved the offence beyond reasonable doubt.
“The evidence of PW2 was direct, credible and substantially corroborated by surrounding circumstances. The defendant’s own admission that she took the child from the market into the bush constitutes a powerful link in the chain of evidence.
“Her attempt to shift responsibility to an unnamed and unidentifiable third party is unbelievable and incapable of creating any reasonable doubt,” the court held.
Following the conviction, counsel for the defendant appealed to the court to temper justice with mercy and grant Jonah a second chance.
However, Justice Effiong held that Section 276 of the Criminal Code prescribes a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment for attempted murder.
“This court lacks the jurisdiction to reduce the sentence prescribed by law. Based on the above, the defendant, Uwakmfon Isaac Jonah is hereby sentenced to confinement for life,” the judge ruled.
