Nine years after the killing of a Jumia dispatch rider in Port Harcourt, three persons have reportedly been sentenced to death by hanging over the incident.
The three, identified as Sodienye Mbatumukeke, Excel Destiny Naabe and Joy Eluwa, were reportedly convicted in connection with the killing of the dispatch rider.
The victim had reportedly gone to an apartment along Ada George Road in Port Harcourt to deliver an iPhone 7 ordered through Jumia on a pay-on-delivery arrangement.
What began as a routine delivery allegedly ended in the rider’s death.
Reports on the case said the victim’s body was subsequently disposed of in a soak-away.
The case remained in the legal system for about nine years before the reported death sentence brought it back into public attention.
The development has renewed concerns about violent crime and the extreme consequences of attacks linked to material possessions.
Tragedy Over an iPhone 7
The case has also drawn attention because of the device reportedly involved in the incident.
The iPhone 7, launched by Apple in 2016, is now an obsolete model compared with the newer generations of smartphones.
Yet, according to reports surrounding the case, the delivery of the device became connected to a tragedy that cost a human being his life.
The development serves as a sobering reminder that no material possession can justify violence against another person.
A phone can be replaced. A human life cannot.
The reported conviction and death sentence have therefore brought renewed attention to the circumstances surrounding the rider’s death and the long legal journey that followed.
