Honourable Justice Ekpo Ntekim of the Akwa Ibom State High Court convicted and sentenced Ndifreke Isaiah Nelson, 33, to death for killing his girlfriend, Emem Monday Effanga, in Uyo and snatching her phone.
The defendant, who was one of the ushers in a new-generation church in Uyo, the state capital, was found guilty of two counts of murder and theft by the court.
He will die by hanging or lethal injection for murder.
According to reports, the incident occurred on the convict’s birthday, February 6, 2025, at around 7 a.m., when Nelson, who lived on Udo Udoma Avenue in Uyo, went to his girlfriend, the late Emem Monday Effanga, at her home on No. 102 Aka Road, opposite NEPA Line in Uyo, to use her phone to post his birthday pictures on social media.
He ended up fighting with her on the phone, slamming her head against the wall, and strangling her to death.
After perpetrating the crime, Nelson left with the deceased’s phone.
On February 8, 2025, he was tracked to a church on Nsikak Eduok Avenue in Uyo during a vigil program about 2 a.m. During interrogation, he confessed to the crime.
The trial judge, Honourable Justice Ekpo Ntekim, ruled that the punishment for stealing was subsumed into the sentence for murder.