NIGERIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING HIS FATHER IN AKWA IBOM

November 18, 2021:

A 36-year-old man, Victor Obit, on 10 November 2021 was sentenced to death by hanging by the Akwa Ibom State High Court for killing his father.
Obit received the sentence, which was issued by Justice Okon Okon, the trial judge, after he was found guilty for using a machete to cut the deceased on the neck.
The convict, who is a native of Ikot Obio Mkpong Ikono, in the Uyo Local Government Area of the state, had accused his late father of being the cause of his misfortune in life.
Obit was reportedly unremorseful for his extreme act of violence as he wanted to eliminate the alleged source of his misfortune.
Justice Okon Okon, while delivering the judgement on 10 November, said: “There is credible and acceptable evidence that the victim died shortly after the accused attacked him with a machete. I have no doubt that the accused did not only intend to cause the deceased grievous bodily harm, but resolved to eliminate him for the nebulous, unsubstantiated allegation that his father was the cause of his problems.”
The court held that “a man who stabs or inflicts machete cuts on another in the neck region is deemed to have intended to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to the person.
“The intent to kill can be formed from the nature of the weapon used and the use of a lethal and death-threatening or death-dealing weapon in the sensitive part of the body like the neck.”
“The accused betrayed his father. Even the heavens weep over the senseless killing of the old man, whose death the son rejoiced over and construed it as the beginning of his freedom from his problems.
“The deceased did not deserve to die by the very hand of his own son.
“I hereby find you, Victor Etimeyo Obot, guilty of murder as charged and accordingly convict you. You are to be hanged by the neck until you be dead.”