Estimated reading time: 6 minute(s)
A welder, Muritala Dare has been sent to death by hanging by a Kogi High Court sitting in Lokoja, for stabbing his colleague to death with a broken bottle.
PLATFORM TIMES reports that Justice Josiah Majebi found Dare guilty after considering his involvement in an incident that occurred on August 16, 2021 around Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) area in Lokoja metropolis.
The convict was charged for culpable homicide, an offence punishable with death under Section 221 (a) and (b) of the Kogi State Penal Code.
He was also charged for causing the death of one Lukman Karim, by stabbing him on the neck and hand with a broken bottle with the intention of causing his death and thereby committed an offence.
The prosecution called three witnesses and tendered seven exhibits, which included the defendant’s confessional statement, Coroner’s Ordinance (Chapter) Report of Medical Practitioners and a Nigeria Police Post Mortem Examination report dated 19th August, 2020.
In his testimony, the principal witness, who is attached to the Quick Response Unit of the Kogi State Police Command said the convict was apprehended from his hideout after committing the crime, while the deceased who died at the scene of the incident was confirmed dead at the Specialist Hospital, Lokoja where the corpse was later deposited.
Upon examination of the evidences presented before the court and particularly relying on the confessional statement made by the defendant, Justice Majebi ruled that, “a confession is an admission at any time by a person charged with a crime stating or suggesting that he committed the crime” while noting that “it is well settled that in a criminal trial (that) an issue may be proved by direct evidence (evidence of an eye witness) confession or admission voluntarily made by the Defendant and circumstantial evidence”.
The judge ruled that it is trite law that a valid voluntary statement entered without objection and admitted in evidence is good evidence and no amount of subsequent argument against it or retraction will vitiate its admissibility and potency, adding that mere denial by the defendant will not be a good reason for rejecting it.
“It is only desirable to have some evidence of circumstances which make it probable that the confession was truly confessional, as in Exhibit P1 in the instant case,” the court ruled.
