Adebowale Alonge V The Attorney General, Western Nigeria (1964)

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BRETT JSC

The appellant was convicted of the murder of a woman named Jose Akintade, who was the wife of Akintade Omoye. It would appear that the appellant was in love with Jose and that Jose’s husband had discovered that the two had been committing adultery. The appellant was taxed with this and there was a threat of an action in court. According to the appellant, he was made to swear an oath that he had not committed adultery with Jose and after swearing it he became ill.

On the evening of the 8th April, 1963, Jose and three other women were returning to Akure from their farm. They were walking in single file and Jose was at the back. They met the appellant who was coming from the direction of Akure and he greeted the women in front. Soon after this they heard shouts and on looking back saw the appellant attacking Jose with a matchet. Her body was found later lying on the ground and the cause of death was a deep laceration on the back of the neck which nearly separated the head from the neck.

The appellant made a statement under caution in which he said that it had been certain that he himself would die and that he determined to kill Jose before he died; that he followed her and killed her with a matchet. In his evidence at the trial he said that he met Jose on the road on the day she died, that he said nothing to her but she said to him “You’ve had it”, by which he knew she was referring to his illness.

He was annoyed and so attacked her with his matchet. It was submitted in the court of trial that these words constituted sufficient provocation to reduce the offence from murder to manslaughter. The Judge rejected this submission and quoted from the judgment of Ridley, J. in R. v. Mason 8 Cr. App. R. 121, where it was said that “mere words of provocation or abuse could not…. have the effect of reducing the crime from murder to manslaughter’.

It is now settled that this statement does not represent the law under section 220 of the Criminal Code of Western Nigeria (section 283 in the Federal Code) which expressly defines provocation as including any wrongful act or insult; but we agree with the learned trial Judge that the words used in this case were not such as to constitute sufficient provocation to reduce the crime from murder to manslaughter. In these circumstances, the appeal was dismissed. 

Other Citation: (1964) LCN/1156(SC)