Three Women Sentenced To Death For Kidnapping Children

Justice Gabriel Ette of the Akwa Ibom State High Court in Uyo on Friday, June 2, sentenced three women to death for specialising in the kidnapping and selling of children in the state.

The three women identified as Enobong Nsikak Sunday (38), Gertrude Thompson Akpan (48), and Mary Okon James (49) were found guilty of conspiracy and kidnapping, punishable by death under Section 1 of the Akwa Ibom State Internal Security and Enforcement Law, 2009.

The mother of two from Atiamkpat in the Nsit Ubium Local Government Area met her demise in her last business on Sunday when she abducted a two-year-old girl she saw at a vigil in Ifa Atai, Uyo, who was “looking poor and hungry.” She claimed to have followed the mother and kid to their Ifa Atai home while pretending to want to take the child to the hospital for treatment.

She claimed that as they were travelling, she stopped and offered the child’s mother N5,000 so she could buy food at the nearby Transformer Junction Market on Abak Road, Uyo, but the woman refused. Not giving up, she claimed she went back to the woman’s home in Ifa Atai and successfully abducted the child there.

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The second prisoner, Gertrude, a native of Ikot Eyo in Nsit Ubium, claimed she made N500,000 for each kidnapped child and N200,000 for those that were delivered to her for sale. The most recent crime that landed her in jail involved two children, two years and ten months old, whom she abducted on December 16, 2018, in Abak Road, Uyo, after convincing their mother that Dr Martha Udom Emmanuel, the wife of the outgoing governor of Akwa Ibom State, was empowering the underprivileged and would take her to the First Lady for assistance.

In addition, Mary Okon James, a native of Obotim in Nsit Ibom, was found guilty of purchasing one of the kids for N200,000 and selling it for N500,000 in Aba.

According to Justice Ette, the confessional words of those charged link them to one another and conclusively show that the three women formed a sophisticated syndicate for their evil enterprise.

“For a woman to have gone to that extent, it means she has sealed her conscience with a hot iron and thereby become a threat to civilized society as every child is her potential victim. You have, by your conduct, disqualified yourself from continuing to walk free in organized society as every child is your potential victim.

“Mary Okon Bassey, a native of Obotim village in Nsit Ibom Local Government, it is your claim that you joined the trade of kidnapping and selling other people’s children in January 2017. You also claimed to have sold two female children in Aba before nemesis caught up with you. This you did with no human empathy and not minding what fate awaits your innocent victims and what arrow you have caused to pierce the hearts of their hapless parents. You did this so you may live big and comfortably.

“How did you feel when you took two children from the same mother in your journey to selling them off for filthy lucre? You had caused your innocent victims sleepless nights, though providence smiled on her for her children to be recovered. You are a pest to society and not fit to walk the earth like a free woman again ever. You, in your lifetime chose to walk the pathway of crime and today, you will reap your reward. Those who murder sleep, do not deserve to dream. I find you guilty and the sentence of this Court on you is that you be hanged on your neck until you be dead and may the Lord have mercy on your soul”