DR. (MRS) BOMO IVBIYARO (NEE FRANCIS) & ORS. V. MRS OMOKARO MONI FRANCIS (NEE OBIRE)
June 25, 2025INTERNATIONAL BANK OF WEST AFRICA VS IMANO NIGIREIA LTD
June 25, 2025Legalpedia Citation:
In the Court of Appeal
HOLDEN AT KADUNA
Wed Mar 14, 2001
Suit Number: SC. 1995
CORAM
Chidi Nwaoma Uwa JCA
PARTIES
EDWARD AWOWAJIRI APPELLANTS
THE STATE RESPONDENTS
AREA(S) OF LAW
SUMMARY OF FACTS
The Appellant stabbed the deceased to death and was thus charged before the Trial Court with an offence of culpable homicide punishable with death under section 221(b) of the Penal Code Laws of Northern States of Nigeria. The Trial Court convicted the Appellant and sentenced him to death by hanging. Dissatisfied with the Trial Court’s judgment, the Appellant appealed to Court of Appeal contending among others that the failure of the Trial Court to deliver its judgment within a period of 3 months from the time of the completion of final written addresses was a nullity in addition to the fact that the Appellant was not 17 years at the time of the commission of the offence and cannot be sentenced to death as provided under Section 270 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Northern States of Nigeria.
HELD
Appeal dismissed
ISSUES
Can it be said that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt all the ingredients of the charge of culpable homicide against the appellant in the face of contradictory evidence in exhibits 1 and 2, when the actual act of stabbing the deceased was not proved to have been done by the appellant?What ought to have been the proper attitude of the court below to exhibits 1 and 2….Both advantageous and disadvantageous to the defence of the appellant?Was the court below right in rejecting the defence of self defenceHaving regard to the fact that about six months have elapsed between the conclusion of evidence and counsels’ addresses and judgment with no reason recorded for this, was the conviction of the appellant safe or constitutional?Having regards to the age of the appellant, at the time of the commission of the offence, can a death sentence be passed on him, when he was seventeen years of age?
RATIONES DECIDENDI
FINDINGS OF FACT- WHEN AN APPELLATE COURT CAN REVERSE SAME “It is not open to an appellate court which has no benefit of receiving the testimonies of the parties, and whose function is limited to perusal of the old record, to reverse the findings, of fact, unless the appellate court finds the decision of the trial court perverse, or unless it finds that the said conclusion is unsupported by evidence”. PER VICTOR AIMEPOMO OYELEYE OMAGE, JCA
DEFENCES-DEFENCE RAISED BY AN ACCUSED PERSON-DUTY OF A COURT TO CONSIDER SAME”The law is well settled that a defence of an accused person no matter how fanciful and stupid or doubtful should be considered”. PER OMAGE, JCA
DELIVERY OF JUDGMENT -INTERPRETATION OF SECTION 258 OF 1979 CONSTITUTION OF NIGERIA-DUTY ON A LITIGANT COMPLAINING OF NON-DELIVERY OF JUDGMENT WITHIN THE STIPULATED TIME “Under the 1979 Constitution of Nigeria which was the constitution in force in the country at the time of the trial and the event which led to the trial, section 258 thereof required that judgment of the court should be delivered within 3 months of the conclusion of evidence or addresses of counsel. A plethora of authorities have interpreted the provision to show that the operation of the section of the constitution does not perse render any judgment delivered outside the three months period void. Any litigant who seeks to claim the benefit of the said provisions must show that he is prejudiced by the delay of delivery of the judgment outside the prescribed three months because he has thereby suffered an injustice”.
SENTENCE-INTERPRETATION OF SECTION 270 OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE OF THE NORTHERN STATES-WHETHER AGE OF MINOR IS DETERMINED AT TIME OF COMMISSION OF OFFENCE OR SENTENCE
“Section 270 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Northern States of Nigeria subscribes that a sentence of death shall not be passed on a person under the age of seventeen years. The law did not say that a sentence of death should be passed on a person of the age of seventeen at the time of the committal of the offence, rather at the time of the sentence is the word of the statute which says “No sentence of death shall be passed on a person under seventeen years etc.” the word does not countenance the time of the committal of the offence. It is only concerned with the time of the passing of the sentence of death”.
FINDINGS OF FACT- WHEN AN APPELLATE COURT CAN REVERSE SAME
“It is not open to an appellate court which has no benefit of receiving the testimonies of the parties, and whose function is limited to perusal of the old record, to reverse the findings, of fact, unless the appellate court finds the decision of the trial court perverse, or unless it finds that the said conclusion is unsupported by evidence”.
DEFENCES-DEFENCE RAISED BY AN ACCUSED PERSON-DUTY OF A COURT TO CONSIDER SAME
“The law is well settled that a defence of an accused person no matter how fanciful and stupid or doubtful should be considered”.
DELIVERY OF JUDGMENT -INTERPRETATION OF SECTION 258 OF 1979 CONSTITUTION OF NIGERIA-DUTY ON A LITIGANT COMPLAINING OF NON-DELIVERY OF JUDGMENT WITHIN THE STIPULATED TIME
“Under the 1979 Constitution of Nigeria which was the constitution in force in the country at the time of the trial and the event which led to the trial, section 258 thereof required that judgment of the court should be delivered within 3 months of the conclusion of evidence or addresses of counsel. A plethora of authorities have interpreted the provision to show that the operation of the section of the constitution does not perse render any judgment delivered outside the three months period void. Any litigant who seeks to claim the benefit of the said provisions must show that he is prejudiced by the delay of delivery of the judgment outside the prescribed three months because he has thereby suffered an injustice”.
SENTENCE-INTERPRETATION OF SECTION 270 OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE OF THE NORTHERN STATES-WHETHER AGE OF MINOR IS DETERMINED AT TIME OF COMMISSION OF OFFENCE OR SENTENCE
“Section 270 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Northern States of Nigeria subscribes that a sentence of death shall not be passed on a person under the age of seventeen years. The law did not say that a sentence of death should be passed on a person of the age of seventeen at the time of the committal of the offence, rather at the time of the sentence is the word of the statute which says “No sentence of death shall be passed on a person under seventeen years etc.” the word does not countenance the time of the committal of the offence. It is only concerned with the time of the passing of the sentence of death”.
CASES CITED
Abogede v. The State (1996) 5 NWLR (Pt. 448) at 270,|Ebdomien v. The State (1963) 1 All NLR 365;|Franklin Braides v. The State (1996) 2 NWLR (Pt. 431)457 at 465|Gira v. The State (1996) 4 NWLR (Pt. 443) at 375|Ibina v. The State (1989) 5 NWLR (Pt. 120) 238 CA|Nwahire v. COP (1991) 1 NWLR 337|Opayemi v. The State (1985) 2 NWLR (Pt. 5) l01 at 111,|R. v. Barimah (1943) 9 WACA 197
STATUTES REFERRED TO
Constitution Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1979 Penal Code Law of Northern States of Nigeria Criminal Procedure Code Northern States of Nigeria|
