KINGSLEY EBERE
A 33-year old church usher, Ndifreke Isaiah Nelson, has been sentenced to death by strangling his girlfriend, Emem Monday Effanga and stealing her phone in Akwa Ibom State.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that it was the judgment of the Uyo High Court, which found him guilty as charged and sentenced him accordingly.
The Court sentenced him to death after convicting him for murdering his girlfriend and stealing her mobile phone.
The convict committed the murder sometime in February 2025 and was arrested and charged before the Court.
According to court proceedings, Nelson visited Ms Effanga at her home on Aka Road in Uyo on his birthday to use her phone to upload photographs on social media.
Prosecutor said an argument later broke out between the pair over the phone. The court heard that Ms Effanga was assaulted and strangled during the confrontation.
Investigators said Nelson fled with the victim’s phone after the incident.
He was later arrested during an overnight church programme on Nsikak Eduok Avenue, two days after the killing.
During the trial at the Akwa Ibom State High Court, the prosecution told the court that the defendant confessed while in custody.
In his ruling, Justice Ekpo Ntekim sentenced Nelson to death by hanging or lethal injection for murder.
The judge said that the punishment for theft was covered by the murder conviction.
Nelson was represented by a Lagos-based lawyer, who appeared in the case without charge.
According to local reports, the case drew attention in the state because the convict served as an usher in a church in Uyo before he was arraigned for the offence.
