An Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Essien Udim Local Government Area has sentenced a 36-year-old hairdresser and mother of four, Uwakmfon Isaac Jonah, to life imprisonment for the attempted murder of a 12-year-old girl.
Justice Winifred Effiong delivered the judgment on Thursday, June 25, 2026, after finding the defendant guilty of 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 the market, where she was selling fresh pepper when Jonah approached her, pretending to be a customer.
According to the prosecution, the defendant told the girl that an elderly woman wanted to buy pepper but was unable to come to the market. She allegedly persuaded the child to accompany her to a nearby bush, claiming the woman was harvesting waterleaf there and would pay for the pepper.
The victim testified that she agreed to follow Jonah because the woman appeared respectable and was neatly dressed.
“I followed the woman because she was well dressed. When we got close to the bush, I told her the place was too far and that I wanted to return. She grabbed me, and when I tried to escape, I fell. She tied my mouth with my cloth so I couldn’t shout for help,” the girl told the court.
The child said the defendant then brought out a knife, slashed her left eyebrow and the right side of her neck before fleeing the scene.
Jonah was arraigned on August 12, 2024. The charge was read and interpreted to her in the Annang language, and she pleaded not guilty.
During the trial, the prosecution presented three witnesses and tendered both the defendant’s statement and the victim’s statement as evidence.
While testifying in her defence, Jonah admitted taking the girl from the market into the bush but denied attacking her. She claimed she handed the child over to another woman who was harvesting waterleaf in the area.
Justice Effiong rejected the defence, noting that the defendant failed to provide the identity, address or any description of the alleged woman, making the claim unconvincing and unsupported by evidence.
The court held that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Jonah lured the child from the market into the bush before the attack.
The judge noted that the victim’s testimony was corroborated by several independent pieces of evidence, including the injuries sustained by the child, the defendant’s admission that she took the victim into the bush, and the victim’s immediate identification of Jonah while receiving treatment at St. Mary’s Hospital in Urua Akpan.
Justice Effiong further ruled that the nature of the injuries clearly demonstrated an intention to kill.
“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 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.
The court concluded that the prosecution had established all the essential elements of the offence beyond reasonable doubt.
“The evidence of the victim was direct, credible and substantially corroborated by surrounding circumstances. The defendant’s admission that she took the child from the market into the bush forms a vital 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,” Justice Effiong ruled.
Following the conviction, defence counsel pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy and grant the convict a second chance.
However, Justice Effiong noted that Section 276 of the Criminal Code prescribes life imprisonment as the mandatory sentence for attempted murder.
“This court has no discretion to impose a lesser sentence than that prescribed by law. Accordingly, the defendant, Uwakmfon Isaac Jonah, is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment,” the judge declared.
