An Akwa Ibom State High Court has sentenced Pastor Emmanuel Umoh to death by hanging for the 2020 murder of his landlord, a University of Uyo student, Gabriel Bassey.
An Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo has sentenced Emmanuel Umoh, Resident Pastor of Living Faith Church Chapel, Ifa Ikot Ubo–Ifa Ikot Okpon Branch, to death by hanging for the murder of a 500-level Civil Engineering student of the University of Uyo, Gabriel Bassey. Justice Gabriel Ette delivered the judgment after finding the pastor guilty of stabbing Bassey to death on December 21, 2020, at Ifa Ikot Ubo in Uyo Local Government Area.
The court heard that the deceased had relocated to his late mother’s property at Ifa Ikot Ubo to safeguard the estate and live closer to school. Before her death in December 2019, his mother had established a nursery school on the property. Evidence presented showed that Bassey resided in a two-bedroom flat attached to a long hall within the compound, alongside his younger brother, Emmanuel Bassey.
The hall, initially constructed for school activities, was later rented to Living Faith Church at an annual rent of N150,000 with the consent of the deceased’s father, Emana Bassey, a retired school principal. The prosecution established that Umoh fatally stabbed the student during an altercation, leading to his conviction and sentencing.