An Akwa Ibom State High Court has sentenced a 36-year-old woman, Uwakmfon Isaac Jonah, to life imprisonment after finding her guilty of attempting to murder a 12-year-old girl she lured from a local market into a nearby bush.
The judgment was delivered on Thursday by Justice Winifred Effiong, who held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that the convict intentionally attempted to kill the child.
Jonah, a hairdresser and divorcee from Ikot Obong in Afaha Clan, Essien Udim Local Government Area, was convicted on a one-count charge of attempted murder, contrary to Section 276 of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Volume 2, Laws of Akwa Ibom State, 2022.
The court heard that the victim had accompanied her mother, a pepper trader, to Urua Akpan Market, where she was selling fresh pepper when Jonah approached her under the pretext of buying the produce.
According to the prosecution, the defendant told the girl that an elderly customer wanted to buy pepper but could not come to the market. She allegedly persuaded the child to accompany her into a nearby bush, claiming her mother was harvesting waterleaf there and would provide the balance for the purchase.
Trusting the woman because she appeared respectable and well-dressed, the girl followed her.
While testifying before the court, the victim narrated how she became suspicious after walking some distance into the bush and attempted to return to the market.
“I followed the lady because she put on a nice dress. Reaching the road to the bush, I told her that the road was too far and I couldn’t continue. She held me, and I ran into the bush. She chased after me, caught me after I fell, tied my clothes around my mouth so I couldn’t shout, then brought out a knife from her bag and cut my left eyebrow and the right side of my neck before running away,” the victim told the court.
The attack left the child with severe injuries, including a deep cut to her neck and wounds around her eye.
Although Jonah admitted taking the child from the market into the bush, she denied attacking her. Instead, she claimed she handed the girl over to another woman cultivating waterleaf in the area.
Justice Effiong dismissed the defence as unbelievable, noting that the defendant failed to provide the identity, address or any description of the alleged woman.
The judge held that the prosecution successfully established that Jonah lured the victim into the bush and that the evidence presented, including the child’s testimony, the injuries sustained, the defendant’s admission, and the victim’s immediate identification of Jonah at Saint Mary’s Hospital, Urua Akpan, clearly linked her to the crime.
“The defendant lured a vulnerable child away from the safety of a public market 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 parts of the human body. Anyone who deliberately inflicts such injuries on a helpless child must be presumed to intend the natural consequences of that act,” Justice Effiong ruled.
The court further held that the fact the child survived did not diminish the defendant’s intention to kill.
Following the conviction, defence counsel pleaded for leniency and urged the court to give Jonah a second chance.
However, Justice Effiong ruled that Section 276 of the Criminal Code prescribes a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment for attempted murder, leaving the court with no discretion to impose a lighter sentence.
“This court lacks the jurisdiction to reduce the sentence prescribed by law. Accordingly, the defendant, Uwakmfon Isaac Jonah, is hereby sentenced to confinement for life,” the judge declared.
