An officer with Nigeria’s secret police, SSS, has provided a heart-wrenching account of how a female job-seeker, Iniubong Umoren, was raped and brutally killed by her alleged attacker, Uduak Akpan, last year in Uruan, Akwa Ibom State.
The officer, simply identified as Okeke, is the 10th prosecution witness in the ongoing murder trial of the accused person, Mr Akpan, 20.
The 26-year-old victim was lured out of her home by her alleged killer with a fake job offer.
Mr Okeke, in his testimony before a State High Court in Uyo, told the court how Miss Umoren was faced between life and death when her alleged attacker insisted on having sex with her, and how she begged him to use a condom if he must rape her, according to a report by the Punch newspaper.
The officer, who testified on Wednesday before Justice Bassey Nkanang, said Mr Akpan in his statement to the SSS admitted threatening to kill Miss Umoren if she would not let him have sex with her.
“He (Akpan) also told us that even when he overpowered the deceased, she told him she would allow him (have sex with her) only if he used a condom,” Mr Okeke said in court.
“The first accused person also told the investigation team that in the process of having sex with the deceased, he removed the condom and the deceased started struggling with him again. He said while he was still on top of the deceased, she carried an iron, and hit him on the forehead.
“He said that, in order not for the deceased to shout, he, Uduak-Abasi, now collected a black cloth, stuffed (it) into her mouth, and tied her mouth. He said he then used a standby stabilizer and hit her on the abdomen. From that point, the first accused said the deceased started bleeding profusely. He told us that he became afraid as if she had already died.
“The first accused also said he used the jeans-trouser of the deceased to strangle her completely,” the officer said.
Late Miss Iniubong Umoren’s casket at her burial ceremony in her hometown in Oruk Anam LGA, Akwa Ibom State
Mr Akpan, the officer said, dug a shallow grave within their compound where he buried the victim’s corpse.
“He told the investigating team that he wrapped her (deceased) body with a blanket, and with her mouth still tied, and the Jeans on her neck and buried her in the grave. He further told us that the incident happened between 13:00 hours to 20:00 hours, on the 29th of April, 2021.”
The officer said Mr Akpan and the two other accused persons made their statement ‘voluntarily’ and that the SSS also analysed their phones.
Mr Akpan’s phone and the two Nokia phones belonging to the second accused were submitted and admitted as exhibits by the court.
The victim’s phone, which was retrieved from her alleged killer, was also presented and accepted as exhibit.
Mr Akpan’s lawyer, Samson Adula, objected to his “confessional statement” being tendered as exhibit, claiming it was made under duress.
The case was adjourned to February 15 for the court to conduct a trial-within-trial to determine if Mr Akpan’s statement was made under duress or not.