Manu Galadima V. The State (2012)

LAWGLOBAL HUB Lead Judgment Report

KUMAI BAYANG AKA’AHS, J.S.C.

This is an appeal by the Appellant against the judgement of the Court of Appeal Sokoto Division delivered on the 10th day of June, 2010 which affirmed the conviction and sentence of the Trial Court.

The accused now Appellant was arraigned before the Kebbi State High Court Zuru Judicial Division on a one count charge for Culpable Homicide punishable with death contrary to section 221 (b) of the Penal Code in charge No. KB/ZR/HC/IC/2005. The charge read:-

“That you Manu Galadima ‘M’ on or about the 19th day of May, 2003 at Usara Village of Sakaba Local Government Area of Kebbi State within the Zuru Judicial Division committed the offence of culpable Homicide punishable with death in that you caused the death of Namurna Hadari by hitting him with an axe on the head with the knowledge of his death would be the probable and not only the likely consequence of your act and you thereby committed an offence punishable under section 221 (b) of the Penal Code”

The appellant did not plead guilty to the charge. At the trial the Prosecution called two witnesses and tendered the statement of the accused. The appellant did not give evidence but relied on the prosecution’s case. The learned trial judge found the accused guilty and sentenced him to death by hanging. His appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed and his conviction and sentenced was affirmed. The appellant has further appealed to this Court.

The Notice of Appeal which contained three grounds of appeal was filed on 6/9/2010. Two issues were formulated from the grounds of appeal. Issue No. 1 was formulated from ground 1 while issue No. 2 was distilled from grounds 2 and 3. The issues are reproduced as follows:-

1. Whether the prosecution discharged the onus of proof placed on it.
2. Was the Court below correct to have relied on an alleged confessional statement of the appellant to confirm or affirm the conviction and sentence of the appellant.

The respondent adopted the issues raised by the appellant.

Arguments in the appeal

Issue No.1: Learned counsel for the appellant submitted on issue 1 that the commission of a crime by a person must be proved beyond reasonable doubt and the burden of proof lies with the prosecution. He said that going by the record, there is nothing in the evidence of PW1 and PW2 which suggests an inference or positive act that the appellant was responsible for the death of the deceased because the entire evidence adduced by the prosecution was circumstantial evidence and the nexus connecting the accused person to the killing of the deceased is non existent. According to the learned counsel the evidence of PW1 and PW2 amounts to hearsay which is inadmissible and cited the cases of Buhari vs Obasanjo (2005) 8 M.J.S.C 1 at 30; Rabiu vs State (1980) 8/11 SC130 and Ebba vs Ogodo (1984) 1 SCNLR 372. He submitted that both the trial court and the Court below acted upon hearsay evidence of both PW1 and PW2 in convicting and sentencing the appellant. He further argued that guilt has not been established against the appellant as there was no evidence before the trial court to show the object used in hitting the deceased head. He urged this Court to overturn the judgement of the lower court on the ground that the findings of both the trial court and the Court of Appeal was based on inadequate evidence. It was submitted on appellant’s behalf that when an accused is being tried for any case whatsoever, it behoves the Court to subject every item of facts raised by or against him to merciless scrutiny because of the constitutional presumption of the innocence of an accused person until he is proven guilty and where there is a doubt in the mind of the court either as to the procedure adopted or failure to address on very important latent issues that assail or circumscribe the case, the Court should acquit and discharge citing Shande vs State (2005) 12 NWLR (Part 939) 301 at 321 in support.

On the second issue learned counsel argued that the appellant objected to the admissibility of the confessional statement.

While conceding that a conviction and sentence of an accused can be based on his confessional statement it is desirable to have outside the confession, some corroborative evidence, no matter how slight, of circumstances which make it probable that the confession is true and correct and that it is not every confessional statement which if admitted in evidence can be relied upon by the Court to convict the maker of the statement. It was pointed out that the prosecution failed to prove the absence of provocation as alleged in the alleged confessional statement and same was not properly considered by both the trial and lower courts. In conclusion learned counsel urged this Court to discharge and acquit the appellant of the offence charged for the following reasons:

1. There was no eye witness account of the crime.
2. That there was no evidence linking the appellant with the murder of the deceased.
3. The trial court failed to carry out six tests in deciding the weight to be attached to the appellant’s retracted statement as laid down in the case of Nwaebonyi vs State (1994) 5 NWLR (part 343) 138 at 142.
4. The respondent failed and neglected to comply with section 77 of the Evidence Act.

In response the respondent enumerated the ingredients that must be proved beyond reasonable doubt to secure a conviction for the offence of Culpable Homicide punishable with death under section 221 (b) Penal Code. He pointed to the evidence of PW1 as satisfying the first ingredient that there was a death of one Namurna Hadari. He also argued that as regards the second and third ingredients even though there was no direct evidence that someone saw the appellant inflicting injury on the deceased which resulted in his death, however there is a confession by the appellant that he used an axe to hit the deceased on the head and this confession is corroborated by Exhibit B, the medical report. He therefore submitted that the prosecution established the voluntariness of the extra-judicial confessional statement of the appellant which was not challenged. On issue 2 learned counsel said that there is enough evidence that Namurna Hadari had died unnaturally and the accused escaped to a village in Niger State after he had committed the alleged offence. He contended that a court will be failing in its duty if it refuses or neglects to convict on the evidence of the prosecution which is unchallenged and uncontroverted.

The learned trial Judge found that the deceased died two days after the attack which made the production of a medical report on the cause of death unnecessary. He also held that Exhibit A-A1 was a confessional statement which he admitted in evidence as having been made voluntarily. He was satisfied that the Prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Namurna Hadari died from the act of the accused person. On the weapon used, the learned trial Judge said:

“Accused said in his Extra Judicial Statement that he hit the deceased with an axe on the head. Even if it is held he did not do so with intend (Sic) to kill, could he not have expected that by using axe lethal weapon on the head of the deceased he would probably have died I did not have the privilege of examining the axe, as it is not tendered before me, but I know sharp object used in hitting head sensitive part of the body death would be the probable consequence. Lamba Kumbin vs Bauchi N.A (1963) NNLR 49. See Heider vs Gown (1950) PAK L.R (104349) Exhibit B – Medical Report shows Namurna Hadari died from the deep laceration on the head from wounds inflicted. In sum, I am of the firm view that accused intended the natural consequences of his act.