CORAM
ADEMOLA CHIEF JUSTICE, NIGERIA
COKER JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
LEWIS JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
PARTIES
COMMISSIONER OF POLICE, MID-WESTERN NIGERIA
APPELLANTS
LAYINKA AKPATA
RESPONDENTS
AREA(S) OF LAW
CRIMINAL LAW – CHARGES-STEALING
SUMMARY OF FACTS
The respondent was convicted for stealing the money belonging to his employers and hiding a court’s file to conceal the offence, the High Court set aside the conviction on the ground that the name of the owner of the money stated as judicial department was insufficient and that it was not shown the file was stolen.
HELD
The court held that the lower court was in error in holding that the charge should have stated the money belonged to the mid-western government and that the file was not stolen.
ISSUES
1 Whether the lower court was right when it set aside the conviction of the respondent for stealing of money belonging to his employers the judicial department was proper.
2 Whether the act of the respondent in removing a file from the registry of the court did not amount to stealing.
RATIONES DECIDENDI
CONTENTS OF A CHARGE
1 ‘Where the property referred to is described with reasonable clearness it shall not be necessary, except when required for the purpose of describing an offence depending on any special ownership of property, to name the person to whom the property belongs’. Per Ademola C.J.F
ELEMENTS OF THE OFFENCE OF STEALING
2 ‘The offense of stealing is made out when a person takes the property of another with the intention to deprive the owner permanently of it’. Per Ademola C.J.F
CASES CITED
Hibbert v. McKiernan [l948] 2 K.B. ISO
STATUTES REFERRED TO
The Criminal Code