GABRIEL ORUCHE VS COMMISSIONER OF POLICE DELTA STATE
July 4, 2025LAWANI ADESOKAN & ORS VS PRINCE MICHAEL OYETUNJI OKEYOYIN ADEGOROLU & ORS
July 4, 2025Legalpedia Citation: (1997) Legalpedia (SC) 93161
In the Supreme Court of Nigeria
Fri Mar 7, 1997
Suit Number: SC.130/1994
CORAM
ABUBAKAR BASHIR WALI JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
MICHAEL EKUNDAYO OGUNDARE JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
ANTHONY IKECHUKWU IGUH JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
PARTIES
JOHN PETER APPELLANTS
RESPONDENTS
AREA(S) OF LAW
SUMMARY OF FACTS
The appellant was charged and convicted with murder at the Magistrate Court, he appealed his conviction at the Court of Appeal, it was dismissed. Still dissatisfied, he has appealed to this Court.
HELD
I accordingly find no substance in this appeal which is dismissed by me. I affirm the judgment of the court below ?
ISSUES
Whether the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant murdered Solomon NwokochaWhether the procedure adopted by the trial court and affirmed by the Court of Appeal did not deny the appellant the very essence of a fair hearing guaranteed to him under section 33(4) and (5) of the 1979 Constitution as enunciated by the Supreme Court in Sanusi v. Ameyogun (1992) 4 NWLR (Pt. 237) p. 527
RATIONES DECIDENDI
PROOF OF ALIBI
Therefore while the onus is on the prosecution to prove the charge against an accused person the latter has, however, the duty of bringing the evidence on which he relies for his defence of alibi; when such evidence has been adduced the court should consider it in the light of the evidence adduced by the prosecution in support of the charge against the accused and if in the end the court is unable to reach a decision on the question whether the evidence in support of the case for the prosecution is stronger than that produced in support of the alibi the accused must be acquitted. Per OGUNDARE JSC
PROOF OF ALIBI
The law is that the onus is on the accused person to establish, on the balance of probabilities, the plea of alibi raised by him. Per OGUNDARE JSC.
CASES CITED
Cachi v. The State (1965) NMLR 333Obiode v. The State (1970) 1 All NLR 35Odidika v. The State (1977) 2 SC 21Yanor v. The State (1965) 1 All NLR 193 at 199Chadwick (1917) 12 Cr. App. R. 247.
STATUTES REFERRED TO
NONE ?
