Father from the pit of hell: Branded daughter a witch, killed her and sentenced to life imprisonment

From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar

The gavel came down in a Calabar High Court.  The courtroom was quiet except for the sound of the judge’s gavel and tension in the courtroom.

For years, 16-year-old Deborah Bassey had been called “a witch”  and suffered the consequences of such categorization. Penultimate Monday morning, the law finally called it what it was: murder.

Justice Blessing Egwu of High Court 11 in Calabar, Cross River State, found Deborah’s father, Pastor Ubong Bassey, 51, guilty of killing the teenager with down syndrome after accusing her of witchcraft. He was sententenced to life imprisonment.

The case was between the State and Ubong Bassey Etim and was marked HC/54C/2025.

The judgment brought an end to the controversy that trailed Deborah’s death in her father’s house on Jacobs Street, off Eyo Edem, in Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State.

The conviction closes a case that began with an allegation of witchcraft as reflected by the down syndrome.  It also opened a harder conversation in Cross River and beyond: why children with disabilities are often branded witches  amd the first to be blamed when misfortune strikes.

For the family, the verdict brought no celebration. Only the closure that comes when a myth is finally answered by law.

Who was Deborah?

Deborah Ubong was 16. Born with Down syndrome, she attended the Government Special School along Ibom Layout in Calabar, Cross River State.

At home, Deborah lived with her father and two other siblings. Her mother, Uduak Bassey, had divorced her father a year before her death.

The marriage allegedly ended over allegations of violence which forced Deborah’s mother, Uduak Bassey, to seek refuse elsewhere.

Uduak said she sought custody of the three children after the separation. The request was not granted. She continued to visit, but later noticed that Deborah had stopped going to school.

On February 15, 2025, at about 7:13pm, Deborah’s father called her mother  to say their daughter was dead.

About 30 minutes later, Uduak arrived at the house. She was told the body had already been taken for burial at the Hawkins Cemetery in Calabar.

She and friends intercepted the vehicle on its way to the cemetery. Inside the boot, they found Deborah’s body.

She insisted that the girl should be laid properly in the back seat. That was when she saw blood coming out from Deborah’s nose. The body was later buried in a cemetery.

Unconvinced by the circumstances, the mother petitioned the Basic Rights Counsel Initiative (BRCI) to  help unravel the mysterious circumstances surrounding Deborah’s death. The BRCI team interviewed Deborah’s two siblings, who were in the house when Deborah died, and their statement suggested that there was more to the death of their sister.

The BRCI, in its letter to the Cross River State Police Command, signed by James Ibor and dated February 17, 2025, stated:

“It is our client’s further brief that she suspects Apostle Ubong Bassey, who is very violent and abusive to her and the children, may have beaten her daughter to death.

“Note also that the deceased had Down Syndrome, was constantly starved and locked up in a room without a bed.

“May I ask you to use your good offices to intervene and ensure a prompt investigation into this matter.”

Interviews with the siblings raised more questions. They told investigators their father kept Deborah locked in a small, windowless room where she slept and defecated. He kept the keys.

A day before her death, she was not given food, they said.

On the day she died, the father returned from work, prepared food, and asked the siblings to take it to Deborah. When they entered the room, they said she was shaking. They informed their father. He went in. Minutes later, he came out and said she was dead.

Deborah’s body was later exhumed. A pathologist from the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital examined her. The report showed she had lost two teeth, suffered a fractured skull and multiple injuries, and died from blunt trauma.

Pastor Bassey denied culpability and pleaded not guilty. The prosecution argued that because he alone kept the keys to the room, he was responsible for what happened to her.

Child rights groups and legal experts say the judgment sends a clear message: branding a child a witch and killing them is murder, and perpetrators will face the full weight of the law.

“This is not only justice for Deborah, it is a milestone in the fight to end witchcraft branding and other harmful practices against children,” James Ibor, principal counsel of the BRCI said after the verdict.

The organization noted that every child has a right to life, dignity, and protection, regardless of disability or superstitious beliefs.

“The campaign against witchcraft branding is gaining momentum, and we will not stop until every child is free from harmful accusations, abuse, and violence,” the group said.