Matilda Omonaiye/
An Akwa Ibom State High Court in Uyo has sentenced Corporal Stephen Iweh, a serving soldier at the time of the crime but later dismissed, to death by hanging for murdering 42-year-old Christopher Enobong Jimmy after the victim offered him a lift.
According to court records, the tragedy unfolded on May 23, 2021, along the East-West Road in Ikot Abasi.
Jimmy, a manager of a clearing and forwarding company based in Port Harcourt, was driving in his Toyota Matrix when he stopped at Trailer Park in Onne, Rivers State, and picked up Iweh, then dressed in full military uniform.
At Oboro Junction, while they paused, Iweh allegedly shot Jimmy in the head, seized his vehicle and valuables, and fled the scene.
Investigations established that Iweh, 39 at the time, had abandoned his post at the Army Store, 6 Battalion, Ibagwa in Abak, to commit the crime.
He was later traced to Andy Guest House in Ukanafun, where security operatives arrested him and recovered an AK-47 rifle.
He had claimed to have “picked it up in Dambou, Borno State, in 2018 and decided to keep it as personal arms.”
Delivering judgment, Hon. Justice Bassey Nkanang held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that Iweh murdered Jimmy, robbed him while armed, and unlawfully possessed the rifle.
He was convicted on a three-count charge and handed down the following sentences: death by hanging for murder, death by hanging for armed robbery, and ten years’ imprisonment for the unlawful possession of firearms.
Court documents show that during allocutus (his plea for mercy), Iweh begged the court for leniency, asking for a “soft landing.”
But the judge rejected the plea, stating that the nature of the crime and evidence left no room for clemency.
The verdict may bring closure to a case that shocked many.
Jimmy’s widow, Arit Jimmy, wept in court, recounting that her husband had set off from Port Harcourt to visit family in Ikot Abasi and never returned.
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