Mohammed Sarki Fulani M V. The State (2018)

LAWGLOBAL HUB Lead Judgment Report

PAUL ADAMU GALINJE, J.S.C.

The Appellant herein was arraigned before the Kogi State High Court on a one count charge of culpable homicide punishable with death contrary to Section 221(b) of the Penal Code. In order to prove its case, the prosecution called two witnesses.

PW1 is the Investigation Police Officer, Mawada Adamu. He testified that he recorded the statement of the Appellant, obtained a medical report on the deceased, four photographs and negatives of the deceased dead body and recovered the knife which was allegedly used in killing the deceased. These documents and the knife were admitted in evidence and marked Exhibits A, B, C, C1-C3, D, D1-D3 and E respectively. PW2, one John Egbunu Cornelius, a registrar in Court 2, High Court of Kogi State, where the appellant was initially arraigned, identified a copy of the evidence of Sgt Abdullahi Musa in the proceedings before that Court. Same was tendered through him and admitted as Exhibit F. Sgt Abdullahi had died before the case was started de novo.

In Exhibit A, the Appellant stated as follows:-

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“On the 02-07-2008 at about 1930 hrs I was coming from my labourer work in a place between Buge and Taji villages and I met one Muhamed Dankano on the way.

And the moment he saw me, he said, why I am looking at him dis-respectively I then answered him and said, which eye did he looked (sic) at me and saw me looking at him dis-respectively. It was there that he took a big plank and hit me with in my head twice, and in my hand. I then feld (sic, fell) down. Meanwhile the moment/managed to gate (sic, get) up he still hit me in my back. It was there that I removed my knife and starb (sic, stab) him in his neck and his stomach and he feld (sic, fell) down and was shouting. It was there that people came down and took me to the police outpost Budon in Budon district of Lokoja Local Government Area of Kogi State. I letter (sic, later) learned that Muhamadu Sani Dankano whom I starb (sic) with a knife had died.”

However, in his evidence in Chief during his trial, the Appellant stated among other things as follows:-

“When I left Buje small somebody came-out of the bush and hit me with stick on my head giving me three scars. Blood covered me when I fell and blood

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that was gushing out covered my face. I started calling his name Mohammed Sani Dan Kano, do you want to kill me” Then people started coming out. People who came out surrounded us and they stood there looking at us. He now removed his cutlass and stabbed me on my hand. When I fell down I stood up after he stabbed me, and I used the sickle that I used in harvesting my rice to stab him when I saw that people were not willing to separate us.”

The statement of the Appellant to the police and his testimony in Court, constitute the facts upon which this case was determined at the trial Court. In his judgment, the learned trial judge found that the evidence of the Appellant where he testified that the deceased stabbed him with a cutlass is an afterthought since he did not say so in Exhibit A when his memories were still fresh. The learned trial judge at pages 62 -63 of the printed record of this appeal held as follows:-

In this particular case, for a stick or a plank the accused apart from embarking upon using a knife decided in his own mouth to cut the deceased in the vital vulnerable parts of the body like the stomach and the neck.

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