MUSTAPHA MOHAMMED & ANOR V THE STATE
June 4, 2025MOJEED SUARA YUSUF V MADAM IDIATU ADEGOKE & ANOR
June 4, 2025Legalpedia Citation: (2007) Legalpedia (SC) 18381
In the Supreme Court of Nigeria
Fri Apr 20, 2007
Suit Number: SC. 279/2003
CORAM
PARTIES
FATAI OLAYINKA APPELLANTS
THE STATE
RESPONDENTS
AREA(S) OF LAW
SUMMARY OF FACTS
The Appellant was tried and convicted on a three count charge of armed robbery at the High Court of Lagos State and was sentenced to death by firing squad or by hanging based on questionable evidence.
HELD
The Supreme Court held that the trial of the accused person at the trial high Court was an infraction of the accused/appellants constitutional right, and the quality of the evidence adduced by the prosecution was insufficient to convict him.
ISSUES
Whether it was right for the Court of Appeal to uphold the judgment of the trial Court convicting and sentencing the Appellant to death by hanging for the offence of armed robbery in view of the nature and quality of evidence adduced by the prosecution, the procedural irregularities and the apparent infraction of the Appellant’s constitutional rights.
RATIONES DECIDENDI
IN A TRIAL FOR MURDER, ALL DEFENCES MUST BE CONSIDERED
“I will only want to add that the law has for long been settled in criminal law that it is the duty of a trial court to consider a defence no matter how improbable or stupid it might be. Failure to consider and examine a defence by the trial Judge does not only raise reasonable doubt in the case of the prosecution but also amounts to a failure to perform a vital duty imposed on the trial Judge and such will amount to a miscarriage of justice which must result in the decision appealed against to be set aside and the conviction quashed.”Per I. T. MUHAMMAD JSC
EFFECT OF WRONGFULY ADMITTED EVIDENCE
“When evidence has been wrongly admitted, it is not a legal evidence and the court has a duty to expunge it from the record. Such evidence should be regarded as if it had not been tendered and admitted. The court cannot rely on it in reaching its ultimate decision. And any finding or decision based on such inadmissible evidence would be perverse and an appellate court faced with a situation has a duty to intervene.” Per I. T. MUHAMMAD JSC
CASES CITED
1. Opayemi v. State (1985) 2 N.W.L.R. (Pt. 5) 1012. Agbuluwa & Ors. v. Commissioner of Police (1961) All N.L.R. (Pt. iv) 850
STATUTES REFERRED TO
1. The Criminal Procedure Act
2. The Criminal Code Law of Lagos State
3. The 1979 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
