NTA MBA & ORS VS EDE NWEDE ANIGBO & ANOR
August 20, 2025CHIEF ASIYA ITA EFFIOM OTU EKONG & ORS VS BENSON OKPALA
August 20, 2025Legalpedia Citation: (1972) Legalpedia (SC) 84188
In the Supreme Court of Nigeria
Thu May 11, 1972
Suit Number: SC. 95/1971
CORAM
TASLIM OLAWALE ELIAS, JUSTICE SUPREME COURT
COKER JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
UDOMA JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
FATAYI-WILLIAMS JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
PARTIES
ELIJAH UKOH APPELLANTS
RESPONDENTS
AREA(S) OF LAW
SUMMARY OF FACTS
The accused/appellant, charged with murder lived in the same house with the deceased and two others. One of the occupants testified that the accused murdered the deceased, based on circumstantial evidence and his testimony was corroborated by the doctor who performed the post mortem.
HELD
The appeal was dismissed.
ISSUES
Whether the guilt of the accused was proved beyond reasonable doubt.
RATIONES DECIDENDI
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE AS A GROUND FOR CONVICTION
“The strength of the circumstantial evidence on which the conviction of the appellant was based lies in the aim of the totality of such evidence. The fact that the appellant slept in the same room with Kalu Adule the night before and his unaccepted (and indeed unacceptable) denial of that fact, his subsequent departure from the locus criminis, the statement he made to the Police, Exhibit 1, and his subsequent attempts at the trial to resile from that statement, the confessions he made to fellow passengers with himself in the Police car on the way to the hospital and other facts all seem to have the same tendency – that of pointing unequivocably to his guilt of the offence with which he was charged.” Per A. Ade. Ademola, CJN
CASES CITED
STATUTES REFERRED TO
