Akwa Ibom State High Court, sitting in Essien Udim Local Government Area, LGA, has sentenced a pastor, Uduak Umoren, and his brother, Emmanuel Umoren, to death for killing a 45-year-old farmer, Iboro Joe.

The two brother beat their victim, Iboro Joe, to death over a piece of land in Essien Udim.

It was gathered that the deceased, who hailed from Ikot Otu village in the same Essien Udim LGA, went to console his sister in-law in Adiasim Ikot Ekon over the death of her husband.

The sister in-law had asked mr Joe to accompany her to her late husband’s farmland to assess how much she could sell the land for the burial.

While on the land, the wife of the second convict saw them and called her husband informing him that someone was trying to bury juju on their family land.

“She told the court that arriving on the farmland, the second convict started beating the deceased, while his wife also invited her son and her brother-in-law who joined in the fray, cutting the deceased with a machete and broken bottles.”

Delivering judgment yesterday, the trial judge, Justice Winifred Effiong found the two guilty of murder and sentenced them to death by hanging.

The judge said, “The prosecution team from the State Ministry of Justice had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt. The accused did intentionally kill the deceased.”