By Abimbola Ogunnaike
Akwa Ibom State High court sitting in Etinan Local Government Area of the State has ordered that one Moses Abdon Edo, aged 37, an indigene of Ikot Ukobo in Nsit Ubium Local Government Area in the state, should be put to death by hanging for killing his father, Abdon Peter Edo.
The Court presided over by Justice Ezekiel Enang held that Edo junior, had confessed in his statement that he single-handedly killed his father in broad daylight on 29 July, 2015, in his house and buried him beside his son’s grave.
Justice Enang in a one hour judgment said the convict, who is the first son of the deceased, also confessed that he pursued his father to the backyard of his old building and hit his head on the wall where he died on the spot over landed property.
The Court held that once a confessional statement is positive, direct and unequivocal of fact, it is sufficient to secure conviction of the accused even without the evidence being collaborated.
Justice Enang said in a charge of murder, what the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt, are the ingredients of the offence that the deceased died and that the death was caused by the act of the accused with an intention to kill or cause him grievous bodily harm.
The Court held that by smashing the head of his father on the wall, the convict had intended to kill him.
Justice Enang found Moses Edo, an okada rider, guilty of murder and ordered that he should be hanged or lethal substance injected inside him until he is dead.
The case, which was prosecuted by the State Ministry of Justice and defended by the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, has laid to rest, the eight years of prosecution of the matter at the trial Court.
