Kabir Almu V. The State (2009)

LAWGLOBAL HUB Lead Judgment Report

KATSINA-ALU, J.S.C.

The appellant was arraigned before the Robbery and Firearms Tribunal of Katsina State on a one count charge dated the 13th July, 1998 which alleged that the appellant on or about the 2nd day of August 1997 at Gambarawa Quarters Katsina robbed one Abdulkabir Lawal of the sum of =N=55,700.00 (Fifty-five thousand, seven hundred Naira) and that at the time of the robbery, the appellant was armed with a knife with which he stabbed the victim (Abdulkadir Lawal) causing him severe injuries leading to his death contrary to section l(2)(a) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act No. 5 Cap 398 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990. He pleaded not guilty to the charge. 11 witnesses testified for the prosecution. The appellant gave evidence in his own defence and called no witness. Learned counsel for both the prosecution and the defence addressed the Tribunal and in a reserved judgment, the learned trial Judge found the appellant guilty as charged and sentenced him to death.

The appellant’s appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed. He has now further appealed to this court upon 8 grounds of appeal. In his Brief of argument filed pursuant to the Rules of this court, he set out the following issues as calling for determination in this appeal to wit:

“(i) Whether the identification parade of the Appellant was done in accordance with the Law.

(ii) Whether the appellant properly set up a defence of alibi.

(iii) Whether the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.”

For its part, the respondent adopted the three issues formulated by the appellant.

Briefly, the facts of the case as found by the Tribunal are as follows. In the early hours of 2 August, 1997 at Gambarawa Quarters Katsina two men entered the room of one Abdulkabir Lawal where he lived with his wife Rukayya Abdul-kabir. The two men woke up Abdulkabi Lawal and started beating him. The men stabbed him with a knife. They demanded money from Abdulkabir Lawal. He gave it to them and they left. The victim cried for help. Some people came, took him to hospital where he died on the 4th day of August, 1997. The victim’s wife Rukayya who was also in the house was an eye-witness to all that happened on that fateful night. She revealed that the appellant was one of the two persons who attacked her husband. I shall return to her evidence later in this judgment.

Following the arrest of the appellant, he denied knowledge of the offence with which he was arrested. He pleaded alibi. In his statement to the police, and in his testimony at the trial he said on the fateful night, he slept in the house of his friend called Ali in Gabarau Quarters.

As I have already indicated, the prosecution called 11 witnesses. The vital witnesses were however PW 7 Rukayya, wife of the deceased, PW8 Abdulrasheed the appellant’s friend at whose house he said he spent the night in question and PW10 Amina Abdu who lived in the same house with PW8.

I think the most important issue for determination is the plea of alibi raised by the appellant. The appellant raised the defence of alibi at the earliest opportunity in his extra-judicial statement to the police. Both parties are agreed on this. The law is now settled in this connection. Once an alibi has been raised, the burden is on the prosecution to investigate and rebut such evidence in order to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt: See Bozin v. The State (1985) ANLR 199.

The defence of alibi is a radical one and simply means that, the accused was somewhere else at the material time an offence was committed and could not possibly be at the scene of the crime to partake in it. Thus, once an accused person has pleaded alibi and stated where he was at the time of commission of a crime and the person he was in company of, the burden of disproving same is on the prosecution; to investigate and prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. Failure to do so is an admission of the story of the accused. For his plea to be destroyed, the prosecution must adduce sufficient evidence to fix the appellant at the scene of the crime.

The appellant’s plea of alibi was given at the earliest opportunity – See Exhibit “D”. In his evidence at the trial he testified as follows:

“I left the hospital at about 8.30pm on 2/8/97 to my friend’s house. The name of my friend is Ali. I slept in the same room with him and in the morning we all went our ways I had to vacate my room in my house to sleep with a friend.”