John Edebru Vs The State (1972)
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FATAYI-WIILIAMS, JSC.
On the 19th day of July, 1971, Wickliffe, J., in the Ilesha High Court, convicted John Edebru of the murder of Baby Eboh in Charge No. HIL/6C/71, and sentenced him to death. His appeal to the Western State Court of Appeal was dismissed on the 14th day of January, 1972.
His further appeal to this court was dismissed on 19th October, 1972, and we now give our reasons for doing so. The facts on which the prosecution relied and which the learned trial Judge accepted are as follows:- On 13th December, 1969, after breakfast, the accused, the deceased, and one Agnes Samson Edebru (3rd P.W.) went to the bush to collect palm fruits. At the material time the accused was living with his uncle named Samson Edebru (5th P.W.).
After they had finished collecting the palm fruits, the 3rd P.W. left the accused and the deceased and went to another place for cassava. From there she went home by another route. On reaching the house where they were all staying, she discovered that the deceased and the accused had not returned.
She then made a report to one Peter who in turn reported the matter to the Chief of the village. As a result, a search party, which included the 3rd P.W; went to the farm in search of the accused and the deceased. There was no sign of them that day so the search was continued on the following day. On that day, they found the accused sitting under a palm tree. He had injuries on his right arm and right leg. When asked where the deceased was, the accused replied that he would not disclose her whereabouts until he had been taken to the village. Because of his injuries, he had to be carried back to the village.
Meanwhile, the search for the deceased continued. Eventually, her corpse with the head severed from the body was found in the bush. The search party then returned to the village. There the 5th P.W. asked the accused what the deceased had done to him. The accused replied that he wanted to have sexual intercourse with the deceased but she refused so he killed her.
The accused made this statement in the presence of the 3rd, 4th and 6th P.Ws. On hearing this confession, the 5th P.W. was detailed to report the matter to the Police. Later the 2nd P.W. and another police came to the village and carried the corpse of the deceased to the Ilesha General Hospital for a post mortem examination. From the information given by the accused, the matchet (Ex. ‘B’) used by the accused, with blood stains on it, was recovered from where he had kept it. The 5th P.W. handed the matchet to the police on the following day. After his arrest, the accused, on being charged with the murder of the deceased, made a written statement (Ex. ‘A’) in which he stated inter alia as follows:-
“On Saturday 13/12/69, the two of us and Baby Eboh left for our farm at Ilayo. The three of us were working together. I was plucking the palm fruits from up and the rest two were gathering them with Baby Eboh. Our third person is Agnes Edebru. When it was about 1500 hours that we had finished our work, my father’s wife who is Agnes Edebru, left Baby Eboh and I in the farm and went to uproot cassava. It was then that the devil spirit came to my mind, and I told the girl that I wanted to have carnal knowledge with her. The girl who is Baby Eboh refused and said that she was going to make report to my senior brother by name Samson Edebru and that she would report to her father and mother.
I begged her not to report in the village but she did not agree, it was then that I told Baby Eboh that if she should make any report at the village I would be driven from the village, but Baby Eboh did not agree to my explanation. It was then I gave her matchet cut on the neck and her head fell down. It was then she fell down and died. I then started to cut her all over her body.
I know the three particular places that I cut her: neck, stomach and hand. After I had killed Baby Eboh, I took up my climbing rope and climbed up a palm tree, I fell off from the top, I did this to kill myself, but instead for me to die, I fractured my hand, and thigh, and I have back pains too. Yesterday Sunday 14/12/69 the villagers came and remove me.”
In his defence on oath, the accused testified that what happened at the farm on the day of the incident was like a dream to him. He also stated that what the prosecution witnesses said he did as well as the confessional statement (Ex. ‘A’) which he was alleged to have made to the Police, were also like a dream. He testified further as follows:-
“Some time ago when I was with Samson Edebru I was sick in various parts of the body. Sometime I had headache. At times I had backache, stomach trouble and some sore on my leg. Sometime ago I had a serious cycle accident. I fell down with the bicycle from a hill between Itapa and Orugbo road. I sustained an injury in the leg.”
The accused did not call any witnesses to testify in his defence. In a reserved judgment, the learned trial Judge considered the defence of insanity in great detail and, rightly in our view, rejected it. He then convicted the accused as charged. At the hearing before this court on 19th October, 1972, Mr. Akinrele who appeared for the appellant had nothing to urge in his favour. As we also saw no merit whatsoever in the appeal we dismissed it.
Other Citation: (1972) LCN/1356(SC)
