Abasiesebanga Ikoiwak, a 36-year-old lawyer, and five other people have been charged in connection with the grisly murder of her 41-year-old husband, Barrister Godwin Ikoiwak.
Barrister Ikoiwak, a native of the Eket Local Government Area, worked as a State Counsel for the State Ministry of Justice until his passing last year.
A classmate of the deceased from the Faculty of Law at the University of Calabar in the Cross River State, Barrister Sunny Anyanwu, testified during the hearing of the case before a Uyo High Court that the deceased told him in a phone conversation just a few days prior to his passing that he and his wife had problems due to infidelity.
The dead, according to his friend, hinted that he had reported the situation to his wife’s family, who had called him to a meeting at their home in Nung Udoe Itak, Ikono Local Government Area, but who did not allow him to return home.
Anyanwu, the seventh prosecution witness in the case, also claimed that the deceased lawyer had informed him that his wife was having a sexual relationship with her former boss, a lawyer named Barrister C.I. Odoh.
He claimed the late husband had revealed to him that while working as a housekeeper for Rev. Father Maurice Mbeke, his wife became pregnant and gave birth to a child who is now 19 years old and is called after his maternal grandpa.
According to the prosecution witness, the late Barrister did not know that the boy who has been living with him in his house for year, was his wife’s own, because the wife said the child was her younger brother.
He said the deceased told him that each time his wife said she was pregnant, he does not set his eyes on her, until after the delivery of the baby, when she will present it to him and say this is your child.
The prosecution team led by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Akwa Ibom State, Barr. Joseph Umoren tendered the audio recordings which was played in the open court.
Justice Bassey Nkanang, the court’s chief justice, ordered a continuance of the hearing in the matter today.