CORAM

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I.L. KUTIGI, JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

E.O. OGWUEGBU, JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

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PARTIES

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FRED DAPERE GIRA APPELLANTS

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RESPONDENTS

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AREA(S) OF LAW

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SUMMARY OF FACTS

Sanwii Bira, P.W.2, returned with her mother from where they went.the appellant and his brother (Goodluck) came to the house of the mother of P.W2, with torchlights. The appellant held a matchet and the appellant’s brother held a dagger with which they inflicted injuries on the deceased who was the daughter of the witness, and the mother of the witness which led to death of deceased.

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HELD

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AFRICAN CONTINENTAL BANK LTD. CALABER VS JOSEPH AGBANYM   1960   FSC 267/1959   [1960] NSCC 12The appeal does not succeed and it is hereby dismissed. The judgment of the court below, affirming the conviction and sentence imposed on the appellant, was affirmed. He was convicted and sentenced to death ?

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ISSUES

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“(1) Whether it was established that the appellant on the evidence killed the deceased.(2) Whether it was true as held by the court below that Exhibit ‘A’, the extrajudicial statement of the appellant, was corroborated by other pieces of evidence outside it.(3) Whether the court below was right in holding that Exhibit “A” was confessional in nature as held by the learned trial Judge.”

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RATIONES DECIDENDI

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INGREDIENTS OF MURDER

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There are certain things or matters that the prosecution has to prove before it can be said that the prosecution has discharged the burden on it to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt where the charge against an accused is murder. They include, as stated in Ogba V The State (1992) 2 NWLR (Pt.222) 164:
(i) the death of the deceased;
(ii) the act or omission of the accused which caused the death of the deceased; and
(iii) the actor omission of the accused, aforesaid in paragraph(ii)above, must have been intentional with knowledge that death or grievous bodily harm was its probable consequence.

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WHAT CONFESSION IS

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A confession is, by virtue of section 27(1) of the Evidence Act an admission made at any time by a person charged with a crime stating or suggesting the inference that he committed that crime. Therefore, it follows that once an accused person makes a statement, under caution, saying or admitting the charge or creating the impression that he committed the offence charged, the statement becomes confessional. See Kasa V The State (1994) 5 NWLR (Pt.344) 269. PER ADIO, JSC

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CASES CITED

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Ogba V The State (1992) 2 NWLR (Pt.222) 164Udo V R. (1964) I All NLR 21 at P.23  Utteh V The State (1992) 2 NWLR (Pt. 223) 257Kasa V The State (1994) 5 NWLR (Pt.344) 269

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STATUTES REFERRED TO

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None.

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