An Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting has sentenced a 36-year-old woman, Uwakmfon Jonah, to life imprisonment after finding her guilty of attempting to murder a 12-year-old girl.
The court found Jonah culpable of the act and held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that the convict commited the crime and is deserved sentencing.
At the court on Thursday, the presiding judge, Winifred Effiong, said that the lawbreaker lured the girl from a market into a nearby bush and attacked with a knife and deliberately deceived the child into leaving the safety of a public market before inflicting life-threatening injuries on her, an act the court ruled clearly demonstrated an intention to kill.
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.
During the trial, the court heard that the victim had accompanied her mother, a pepper trader, to Urua Akpan Market, where she was hawking fresh pepper when the defendant approached her under the guise of wanting to purchase the commodity.
According to the victim’s testimony, the defendant told her that an elderly customer wished to buy pepper but could not make the trip to the market. She further claimed she did not have enough money with her and persuaded the girl to accompany her to a nearby bush where her mother was allegedly cultivating waterleaf and could complete the payment.
Trusting the woman because she appeared respectable and was neatly dressed, the 12-year-old agreed to follow her.
The victim told the court that she became suspicious after they had walked some distance into the bush and attempted to turn back, but the defendant grabbed her and chased her after she tried to escape.
“I followed the lady because she put on a nice dress. Reaching the road to the bush, I told her that the road is too far and that I couldn’t continue. At that point, the lady held me and I ran into the bush. She ran after me and I fell. She held my cloth and tied it around my mouth so I could not shout for help.
“She brought out a knife from her bag and cut my left eyebrow and the right side of my neck before running away. The bush is close to Urua Akpan Market in Essien Udim,” the victim testified.
The court further heard that the attack left the child with serious injuries, including a deep cut to her neck and wounds around her eye, before the assailant fled the scene.
Jonah was arraigned on August 12, 2024, after the charge was read and interpreted to her in the Annang language. She pleaded not guilty to the allegation.
To establish its case, the prosecution called three witnesses and tendered both the defendant’s statement and the victim’s statement as exhibits.
While opening her defence, Jonah admitted approaching the child at the market and leading her into the bush but denied carrying out the attack. She claimed she handed the child over to another woman who was cultivating waterleaf nearby.
Justice Effiong, however, rejected the defence, holding that the convict failed to provide the identity, address or any description of the alleged woman, rendering the claim unsubstantiated and unbelievable.
The court held that the prosecution successfully established that Jonah was the person who lured the victim from the market into the bush, noting that several independent circumstances corroborated the child’s account, including the injuries she sustained, the defendant’s admission that she took the child into the bush, and the victim’s immediate identification of Jonah while receiving treatment at Saint Mary’s Hospital, Urua Akpan.
The judge observed that the defendant failed to offer any credible explanation regarding the alleged third party she claimed to have handed the child over to.
Ruling on the intent behind the attack, the court held that the circumstances left no doubt that the defendant intended to kill the child.
“The defendant lured a vulnerable child away from the safety of a public market and 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 and vulnerable parts of the human body. A person who deliberately inflicts a deep cut on the neck of a helpless child must be presumed to intend the natural and probable consequences of such an act.
“The fact that the child survived does not negate the intention,” the judge held.
Justice Effiong further stated that the prosecution had proved all the essential ingredients of the offence beyond reasonable doubt.
“The evidence of PW2 was direct, credible and substantially corroborated by surrounding circumstances. The defendant’s own admission that she took the child from the market into the bush constitutes a powerful link in the chain of evidence.
“Her attempt to shift responsibility to an unnamed and unidentifiable third party is unbelievable and incapable of creating any reasonable doubt,” the judge added.
Following the conviction, counsel to the defendant urged the court to temper justice with mercy and grant his client a second chance.
However Justice Effiong held 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 lesser punishment.
“This court lacks the jurisdiction to reduce the sentence prescribed by law. Based on the above, the defendant, Uwakmfon Isaac Jonah, is hereby sentenced to confinement for life,” the judge ruled.