By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo, will on December 13, 2021 give a ruling on trial within trial of Uduak Frank over the murder of the job-seeker, Iniubong Umoren.
Presiding Judge, Justice Bassey Nkanang after sitting on Wednesday November 17, 2021, fixed the date after the accused person, Uduak Frank Akpan and a lawyer, Emmanuel Ekiko gave their evidence in the trial within trial proceedings.
The trial within trial came as the accused person denied his statement in which he confessed to the Police that he murdered Iniubong Umoren.
Trial-within-trial arises in the course of a criminal proceeding, a defendant objects to the admissibility of an extrajudicial statement he made during interrogation by security agencies.
The defendant will argue that he was threatened, tortured or cajoled to make the statement and it was not voluntary.
To test the voluntariness of the statement, the judge will suspend the main trial and order that a trial-within-trial be conducted, with both sides calling witnesses in support of their claims.
Giving his evidence, Uduak Akpan, a 20-year-old undergraduate, told the court that the confessional statement he made to the Police was not made voluntarily.
After hearing both parties, the Court set aside 13th of next month for ruling, when two more prosecution witnesses will also conclude their evidence.
The witnesses are Dr. Emeka Nwafor, a Senior Consultant Pathologist from the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, who carried out post mortem examination on the body of Iniubong Umoren and a Police Inspector, Mr. Samuel Udoh, attached to the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Akwa Ibom State Police Command, who investigated the incident.
The Court also admitted in evidence, the certificate of the photographs and videos showing the exhumation of the body of Iniubong Umoren and a two-in-one photograph of the decomposed body as exhibits in the matter.
The case has been adjourned to Wednesday, 1st of December, for adoption of written addresses on the trial within trial.
