An Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Eket on Wednesday sentenced a 37-year-old man, Uduak Moses Idimudo, to life imprisonment for raping two girls, aged 14 and 15.
The victims are students of a secondary school in Eket.
Idimudo, a native of Efoi in Eket Local Government Area, was sentenced by Justice Efiong Efiong. He was found guilty of 19 out of the 20 count charges of rape.
One of the victims (name withheld) told the Court that she and her 14 year-old friend were hawking fried cow skin meat otherwise known as “kanda” on the road in Efoi in July 2020 when the convict bought meat worth N700 and asked them to accompany him to his room to get the money.
He also suggested that they can come back later when they finish selling the meat.
The victim said on their way home, they went back to the convict’s house as he suggested, to get their money, but he insisted that they must follow him inside his room, which they obliged.
The girl, the first prosecution witness, said the convict pushed her and her friend on his bed and forcefully removed their pants and inserted his penis inside their vagina and took turn to rape them and after, gave them N350 instead of the N700 balance he owed them.
The JSS 3 student also narrated how the convict told her and her friend to come back to his house for the balance but warned them not to tell their parents or anyone about the rape, else he will kill them.
She told the court that they went home without telling their parents and one month after, in August, 2020, they went back to the convict’s house for the balance of their money and the convict again adopted the same method and took turn to rape each of them.
This time, he did not pay the debt, asking them to come back again.
The minors said the convict adopted the same procedure of raping them from July 2020 till April 2021, until one woman, a neighbour of the convict, who noticed the girl’s regular visits to his house, reported to their parents.
In a one-hour judgment, the trial judge, Justice Efiong Efiong said he “believed the testimonies of PW 1 and PW 5 (the victims) as corroborated by the confessional statement of the defendant and the medical reports of evidence of forceful penetration of vagina of PW 1 and PW5″.
He described the defendant as “a despicable character who is worse than an untrained animal and does not deserve to be left free in the community of decent people”.
Justice Efiong held “that the defendant could keep ripping two minors naked on his bed and raping them in their open view, shows that he is a dirty, wicked and satanic person, who has no regards for the law and morals”.
The Court also noted that “the offence of rape is now assuming an alarming frequency in the society and in Eket Judicial Division in particular”.
The State Prosecutor from the Ministry of Justice, Barrister Ime Ifon hailed the judgement, noting that it will serve as deterrent to other rapists who are yet to be caught by the long arm of the law.
The defence counsel, Barrister Victor Udeh, also commended the court for the judgment.
