Monday Akpan Matthew Vs The State (1972)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

FATAYI-WILLIAMS, JSC. 

On 3rd March, 1972, Ete J., in the Uyo High Court convicted Monday Akpan Matthew of the murder of Unwa Nko Udo Nkantin in Charge No. HU/35C/1971. We dismissed his appeal against the conviction on the 28th of September, 1972, and now give our reasons for so doing.

The facts which the learned trial Judge accepted are as follows. On Sunday, 19th April, 1970, at Ikot Esua in Uyo, Jonah Udo Edemeka (2nd P.W) heard an alarm which appeared to come from his father’s old homestead not far away. On getting there, 2nd P.W saw the accused attacking his (accused’s) wife with a matchet. At that stage, the wife was unable to speak or shout. He also saw the wife’s mother running towards them in the old homestead. When he saw his mother-in-law, the accused left his wife and turned on her. As she was unable to escape because of a bad leg, the accused attacked her with his matchet as well.

When the 2nd P.W tried to intervene, the accused warned him that if he said anything more he would kill him. He then went for the 2nd P.W who ran off and escaped into the bush nearby. Running through the bush, the 2nd P.W went to the village hall where he described what he had seen to the people there. The village drum was then sounded and as a result the villagers gathered and later went to the scene of the attack. Neither the accused nor his wife was seen at the scene.

The mother-in-law was also not found. Blood was, however, seen all over the place. A search was mounted for the accused and his victims that same day but this proved abortive. The search was, however, resumed on the following day. Later that day, the body of the mother-in-law was discovered, covered with palm leaves, by a palm-tree in a farm. A report of what had been discovered was then made to the police.

Thereafter a further search was mounted for the wife of the accused. Her body was found on 21st April, 1970, in the bush by the stump of another palm-tree. A hole had been dug by the tree stump and the body pushed into it. The body of the wife (hereinafter referred to as the deceased) was then taken to the Ikot Okoro General Hospital where the doctor in charge (P.W.l) performed a post mortem examination on it. The doctor found that the scalp had completely fallen off the skull which was laid bare.

The zygomatic arch was broken and appeared to have been cut through. There was a large cut of about five inches long on the left axilla extending to the pectoral region. The left hand was cut off at the wrist removing the lower ends of both the radius and ulna. The fourth rib on the left side was fractured at the lateral angle. The doctor further observed that the cut through the zygomatic arch and other cuts could have been caused by a sharp-edged instrument like a matchet applied with force. He then concluded that the death of the deceased “could have resulted from haemorrhage from the wounds in the left forearm, the face and probably the chest in that order of probability.”

Three days later, that is on 24th April, 1970, Police Corporal Brown Akpan (6th P.W) received information from the Police Crime Office at Uyo that the accused had been apprehended and was then in custody at Oron. The 6th P.W then went to Oron and brought the accused back to Uyo where he was formally charged with the murder of the deceased. After caution, the accused volunteered a written statement (Ex. ‘A’) in which he denied killing the deceased and his mother-in-law.

In his defence, on oath, the accused persisted in his denial. He said he left home at about 7 a.m. on the day of the incident to go to Calabar via Uyo from where he obtained transport to Oron. From Oron he went by ferry to Calabar, where he met another man from his village named Effiong Asuquo Usanga. He returned from Calabar on 23rd April, 1970, and on his way home that day he spoke to Udo Asuquo and Etukudo Isaac at the motor park at Oron and even had a drink with them at a bar nearby. Later, Etukudo Isaac left them and returned with a police constable who informed him that he was wanted in connection with the death of his wife and mother-in-law. He told the policemen that he was not the one who killed them. He said he did not know who Unwa Nko Udo Nkantin was and pointed out that his wife’s name was Adiaha Johnson Etukudo Essien. He did not call any witness to testify in his defence, not even Effiong Asuquo Usanga whom he said saw him in Calabar on the day the deceased was brutally attacked in their village.

After considering the case for the prosecution and the defence put forward by the accused, the learned trial Judge accepted as true the version of the incident as given by PW.2 and then observed as follows:-

“Possibly the deceased was also called Imo Johnson Etukudo Essien as the accused maintained in his evidence, and also Ime Johnson Etukudo Nkantin as he said in his statement to the police. If she was known by these two different sets of names, I am satisfied from the evidence before me that she was also known as Nwa (or Unwa) Nko Udo Nkanti, P.W.2 knows her by this name, so too the accused’s own brother Friday Skpan Matthew-P.W.4. In his statement which I am satisfied he made to the police, the accused said that his wife packed from his house in August, 1969, to live with her mother, saying she would not marry him anymore because he had no money. He said he told them on Saturday morning that he would leave on Sunday 19th April, 1970, for Calabar. He said that he did not tell his mother or his people about his going to Calabar, but that he told her he was going to Effiat to meet his father on the Sunday……..In his statement, he made no mention of his alleged co-villager Effiong Asuquo Usanga or of work in the cement factory; I am satisfied that the accused’s story about his movements on that fateful Sunday is the story of a confused and desperate person.”

The learned trial Judge then convicted him of murder as charged after finding this finally as follows:-

“He was caught at Oron, and I am satisfied that he had run away to that place after killing his wife. He has himself in his statement supplied the motive for the killing. It was because his wife had left him because he had no money.”

In the appeal before us, Mr. Akinrele, for the appellant, had nothing to urge in favour of the appellant. We were also unable to discern any redeeming feature in this savage and brutal attack on the deceased and were of the view that the appellant was rightly convicted of murder.

We therefore dismissed the appeal.

Other Citation: (1972) LCN/1380(SC)