Frank Akpan, the father of Uduak Frank Akpan who is the prime suspect in the murder of Miss Iniubong Umoren, has denied knowledge of his son’s complicity in the crime.
Uduak Akpan confessed to killing Umoren, a Philosophy graduate of the University of Uyo, after luring her from Twitter when she tweeted her search for a job. The suspect replied to her tweet inviting her for an interview and later confessed to raping and killing her when she arrived at his address.
An investigation by the Police had led to the discovery of the corpse in a shallow grave in Akpan’s compound in Uruan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, where the Police exhumed the corpse for autopsy.
But Mr Frank Akpan, a retired civil servant, and second accused person, who was giving evidence in his defence as an accessory after the fact of murder before an Uyo High Court presided over by Hon. Justice Bassey Nkanang denied the Police ever exhumed Umoren’s remains in his compound.
Besides, he said his son had a mental health issue (schizophrenia) and was an outpatient at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital.
His evidence is coming a few days after his son, Uduak Frank Akpan, the first accused person, had denied knowing the late Iniubong Umoren nor raped her or any other woman since he was born.
Akpan told the court, that on the day the said incident occurred, he was in the house of his secondary school classmate at Uko Eshiet Street, Uyo, and only returned home at about 7 pm, to be told by his son that, there was an undisclosed medical emergency for which he advised him to hold on till the next morning.
The accused person said his son then came back and told him that he was travelling to Calabar before he heard a knock on the gate of his house by Policemen from Uruan Divisional Headquarters who later told him that they were in search of a missing lady.
He said he conducted the Police round his house and thereafter, was taken to the Police Anti-Kidnapping Unit, Uyo, where he was detained, until his son was arrested and himself freed from Police custody.
Concerning the text message he allegedly sent to his daughter’s phone stating “He was using a flying boat, he should not be talking about dying, but escaping” the accused person admitted that he sent the text but that he was not referring it to his son’s escape.
Mr Frank Akpan is standing trial for accessory after the fact of murder, while his son, Uduak is charged with murder and rape and his daughter, Bassey Anwan, for harbouring her brother in her residence in Calabar in a bid to assist him to escape justice.
Justice Bassey Nkanang has adjourned the case to the 10th and 11th May 2022, for the continuation of defence by the third accused person, Mr Frank Akpan’s daughter.
