Amos Akpan Udo Ukut Vs The State (1972)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

FATAYI-WILLIAMS, J.S.C. 

In Charge No. H1/40C/71, the appellant was convicted in the High Court, Ikot Ekpene, on the 21st March, 1972, of the murder of his Uncle, Dick Ukut, and sentenced to death by Ita, J.

The case for the prosecution is that the appellant and his brother Okon Akpan Udo Ukut (2nd D.W.) had a dispute over a piece of land with Dick Ukut (the deceased) and the deceased’s brother, Noah Ukut (4th P.W). The deceased had planted oil palm trees on some portion of the land and cassava on another portion. The appellant and his brother went and destroyed some of the oil palm trees and uprooted the cassava trees. Annoyed with what they had done to his trees and crops, the deceased lodged a complaint in the Customary Court at Ikot Udo Afaha Obo against the appellant and his brother. The appellant’s brother (2nd D.W) was duly arrested and brought before the Customary Court. As the appellant was then away to Port Harcourt to sell palm oil, he could not be apprehended at the same time. The 2nd D.W. was, therefore, asked to report at the Customary Court on the 15th March, 1971; he was also instructed to inform the appellant of the date of hearing of the complaint and to ask him to appear before the Customary Court.
The appellant returned to Ikot Udo Afaha Obo on Saturday, 13th March, 1971. On the following day, 14th March, 1971, at about 5.30 a.m., the 2nd D.W. left the house in which he was staying with the appellant to return the bags of some persons who had sold crayfish to him. The appellant was in the house when the 2nd D.W. left home that morning but when he (2nd D.W.) returned later to their house at about 9 a.m., the appellant was no longer there. On making enquiries as to the whereabouts of the appellant, the 2nd D.W. was informed of his brother’s arrest in connection with the death of the deceased.

Helen Dick Ukot (2nd P.W.), a teacher at the Government School, Afaha Obo, and one of the five wives of the deceased described what happened to her husband at their house in Ikot Udo Afaha Obo at about 6 a.m., on that fateful Sunday (14th March, 1971) as follows:-

“Then my husband asked his other wife to keep water for him because he wanted to go out very early. The woman kept the water in the pantry and came and called my husband to go and wash his face. My husband went into the house to wash his face. Not long after I heard him shouting ‘Helen! Helen! Okoro has killed me, Okoro is the accused person. Accused’s other name is Okoro.  When I heard the shout I ran into the pantry where my husband was.  Accused was cutting my husband with a matchet and as he was cutting he said to my husband,

‘stand up and struggle over land with me, I did not commit adultery with your wife but you said I did so.’

When I saw this I raised an alarm and the accused pursued me with the matchet in his hand and I ran away…… I called my husband’s other wife by name Eka Nse, i.e., Nse’s mother. Eka Nse came and we both went into the house again and accused pursued us and we ran out of the house and shouted. Eka Nse’s name is Dora. When we went outside and shouted, people came but by this time the accused had run away. After the accused had gone I went and saw my husband. By this time he was dead.”

The 2nd P.W. saw matchet cuts on the deceased’s shoulder and on the lower part of his neck. There were also cuts from the nose to the mouth, in the palm of his hand, and on his head. According to the 2nd P.W. the distance from the house of the deceased to that of the appellant and the 2nd D.W. is about 70 yards.

Dora Dick Ukut (3rd P.W.) another wife of the deceased who was called to the scene by the 2nd P.W. confirmed the version of the incident as given by the 2nd P.W.

The shouting of the 2nd and 3rd P.W.s brought Noah Ukut (4th P.W.) the brother of the deceased to the scene. There he saw the dead body of his brother with matchet cuts on the “head, shoulder, neck, arm, hand and on the body.” He duly made a report to the police at the Ikot Okoro Police Station. As the policemen detailed to investigate the complaint were on their way to Ikot Udo Afaha Obo with the 4th P.W., they saw the accused and arrested him. Thereafter, the police collected the body of the deceased and took it to the Ikot Okoro General Hospital where the Medical Superintendent-in-charge performed a post mortem examination on the body on 15th March, 1971. The doctor described some of the injuries which he found as follows:-

“There was a very, very deep and large cut on the left shoulder close to the root of the neck. There were four moderately deep cuts on the left-shoulder, two on the left elbow anteriorly over the lower end of the humerous. There were several cuts on the right hand distributed as follows: two on the dorsum, i.e., back of the hand, three across the palm and one each on the left index middle and ring fingers. There was a superficial cut on the left side of the abdomen. No rib was fractured. On the face the zygomatic arch, i.e., (the bone between the eye and the mouth) was cut through. There were three cuts on the left eyebrow fracturing the left aspect of the frontal bone. There was also an associated fracture of the left temporofrontal bone, i.e., the bone in front of the ear as indicated by the witness.

The skull: There was a large cut on the bregma, i.e. (the very tip of the skull shown by Dr.) producing a T shaped fracture of the skull. There were four cuts on the nose mutilating the nose completely.”

According to the doctor, the cause of death was the head injury together with the bleeding from the many wounds enumerated above “many of which could have been capable of producing fatal haemorrhage.”

In the written statement (Ex. 5) which he made to the police soon after his arrest, the appellant admitted attacking the deceased with his matchet on the day in question. In this statement, he gave his reasons for the savage attack as follows:-

“My father died during the war time. Dick Ukut took four plots of my father’s land together with some palm trees.  Dick Ukut told his brother named Noah to take another piece of land from my father’s land. After that Dick summoned my junior brother named Okon Akpan Ukut  in the Customary Court. Dick Ukot said that my brother Okon Akpan Udo Ukut entered his farm and destroyed his palm trees. In this year 1971, Dick Ukut sent his brother named Noah to call a policeman so that I may be arrested. After I had been arrested by the police, the matter was sent home for settlement. The Chiefs said that I should use the land. Dick also sent his brother Noah to go and claim this very portion of land. Noah sent his two wives to go and farm in the land. I was highly offended. I went to the house of Dick Ukut with my matchet. I matcheted Dick Ukut with my matchet in the morning of Sunday 14/3/71 in his house………….Dick said that I made love with his wife. Dick also claimed my father’s lands. That was the reason I grew annoyed.”

The appellant also testified in his defence and called three witnesses. In his defence on oath he denied attacking the deceased on the day in question and stated that around 5.30 a.m., on that Sunday, he went to Ikot Okoro Police Station to report to the Police that the land dispute between him and Noah (4th P.W.) which the police had referred to Chief Akpan Uko (3rd D.W.) for settlement at home had been settled in his favour by the 3rd D.W. He further stated that while he was waiting at the Police Station for a Senior Police Officer, Noah Ukut (4th P.W.) came to the station and complained that he had killed Dick Ukut, the deceased. He denied killing the deceased or making any statement to the police about the matter.

None of the three witnesses called by the appellant were of any assistance to him. Okon Akpan Udo Ukut (2nd D.W.) and the brother of the appellant said that he left the house where he and the appellant lived early that morning about 5.30 a.m., and that it was on his return at about 9 a.m., that he heard about the attack on the deceased.  Chief Akpan Eyen Uko (3rd D.W.) informed the court that no settlement had been reached in respect of the land dispute. Chief Uko testified further that after he had inspected the land, he asked the parties to the dispute to come before the village council on Monday, 15th March, 1971, for settlement but that the tragedy which resulted in the appellant’s death took place the day before the date fixed for settlement. The last witness (4th D.W.) called by the appellant is a police constable; he merely confirmed that the appellant came to the Ikot Okoro Police Station about 7 a.m. on 14th March, 1971, to say that the land dispute about which he had previously lodged a complaint had been settled by the 3rd P.W. The 4th D.W also stated that as the appellant was saying this, Noah Ukut (4th P.W.) rushed into the station and asked him to arrest the appellant as he (the appellant) had just killed the deceased earlier that morning. As a result of this information, he (4th D.W.) arrested the appellant immediately, searched him, and found in his pocket a piece of waterproof bag with blood stains all over it.

After considering the evidence adduced before him by both the prosecution and the defence, the learned trial Judge accepted the version of the 2nd and 3rd P.W.s as to what happened at Ikot Udo Afaha Obo that morning. He rejected the defence of alibi put forward by the appellant on oath and convicted him of murder as charged.

In the appeal before us, the learned trial counsel for the appellant could find nothing to urge in favour of the appellant. As we also saw no merit whatsoever in the appeal, we dismissed it on the 19th October, 1972, and now give our reasons for so doing.

SC.89/1972