By BANNERNEWS Reporter, Uyo
An Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo has sentenced a commercial motorcyclist, Michael Effiong Japhet, to life imprisonment for raping a nursing mother at knifepoint.
Trial judge, Justice Archibong Archibong, found Japhet guilty of rape and stealing, offences punishable under the Criminal Code Laws of Akwa Ibom State, 2000.
The court heard that the convict committed the offences on February 23, 2015, after picking up the victim, a fruit seller, from Ekom Iman Junction in Uyo to take her home at Ikot Ofon in Ikono Local Government Area.
Instead of following the agreed route, he reportedly diverted to Ikot Nsung and drove into a bush path, falsely claiming that his motorcycle had run out of fuel.
There, he allegedly seized the woman’s purse containing ₦7,000 and a mobile phone before threatening her with a knife and forcing her to undress.
Despite the victim’s pleas that she was married and nursing a baby, the convict raped her while threatening to stab her if she resisted, before fleeing the scene on his motorcycle.
The following morning, the victim spotted him at Ekom Iman Junction on her way to resume business, alerted her husband, and the suspect was immediately apprehended. Her stolen phone was recovered from him.
Justice Archibong sentenced Japhet to life imprisonment for rape and an additional three years’ imprisonment for stealing, bringing to a close the 11-year prosecution handled by the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Justice.
