Altine V. State (2022)

LAWGLOBAL HUB Lead Judgment Report

HELEN MORONKEJI OGUNWUMIJU, J.S.C. 

This is an appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin Division delivered on the 7th day of November, 2018. Coram: Ibrahim M. Saulawa JCA, Chidi Nwaoma Uwa JCA, and Hamma Akawu Barka JCA. The learned justices upheld the judgment of the trial Court that found the Appellant guilty of the two count charge of Criminal Conspiracy and Armed Robbery and sentenced him to death. The Appellant being dissatisfied with the judgment of the lower Court filed a Notice of Appeal on the 31st day of March, 2021.

The facts that led to this appeal are as follows:

​The Appellant and a co-Defendant were arraigned before the High Court of Justice Kwara State sitting at Ilorin presided over by Honourable Justice A.S. Oyinloye on a two count charge of Criminal Conspiracy contrary to Section 6(b) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act, Cap R11, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and Armed Robbery contrary to Section 1(2) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act, Cap R11, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004. The Appellant pleaded not guilty to the charge and further told the Court that his statement was not voluntarily made by him. A trial-within-trial was conducted where the Appellant gave evidence that he was made to sign the said statement involuntarily. The Court however overruled his objection and admitted the statement in evidence.

The complainants in this case, i.e. one Saidu Ibrahim and one Hassan Ibrahim were robbed with the use of guns and cutlasses. The sum of N450,000.00 and 24,000 Cefas were stolen from them. One of the complainants was able to see the face of the Appellant and his co-defendant identified them because he knew them previously and their houses. They immediately reported the incident to the vigilantes who in turn arrested the culprits and handed them over to the police. Some of the money recovered from the Appellant and his co-defendants were part of the sum forcefully taken from the victims.

In the brief settled for the Appellant by Oluronke Adeyemi of counsel, three (3) issues were identified from the grounds of appeal, they are set out below:

1. Whether the lower Court was right to have held that “from the manner in which the grounds 1 of the Notice of Appeal was couched, it did not question the admissibility of Exhibit P6, contained in the trial Court’s ruling of 4th March, 2015 following the trial within trial when the issue of voluntariness of the Appellant’s extra-judicial statement arose and was decided upon and therefore there is no appeal against the trial Court’s ruling that the extra-judicial statement made by the Appellant was voluntarily made and the decision admitting same as Exhibit P6” (Ground 1).
2. Whether the lower Court was right when it held that there was no need to call the interpreter who gave evidence in the trial within trial back to give the same account of his interpretation in the main trial. (Ground 2)
3. Whether from the totality of the admissible evidence, the learned Justices of the Court of Appeal were right to have upheld the conviction and sentence of the Appellant for the offences of Conspiracy and Armed Robbery. (Ground 3).

The same issues albeit in different wordings were identified by learned Respondent’s Counsel Abiodun Dada Esq. After reading the record, the germane issue for determination in this appeal in my view is to wit:

Whether the learned lower Court was right to affirm the judgment of the learned trial Court wherein the appellant was convicted.

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The Appellant complained about the holding of the Court below that from the manner in which Ground 1 of the Notice of Appeal to the Court of Appeal was couched it did not question the admissibility of Exh P6, the confessional Statement of the Appellant admitted on 4/3/15 after a trial within trial conducted during the course of the main trial. The Appellant’s counsel complained that it was wrong of the Court below to decide that the grounds of appeal before the Court below did not suggest that the Appellant had a complaint against the ruling wherein the trial Court held that Exh P6 was voluntarily made and admitted same. Counsel argued that the first ground of appeal before the Court below including the particulars having mentioned the issue of involuntariness of the confessional statement as one of the complaints of the Appellant, it therefore becomes an issue that the Appeal Court was called upon to pronounce on. Counsel cited NYAKO v. ADAMAWA STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY & ORS (2016) LPELR-41822 (SC)

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In paragraph 4:10 on Page 7 of the Appellant’s brief, counsel insisted that a Conjunctive reading of the Appellant’s ground one and the particulars of error would have established before the appeal Court that the main issue complained of by the Appellant was the voluntariness or otherwise of the alleged confessional statement.

Learned Appellant’s Counsel further argued that the Appellant’s grouse with Exhibit P6 is that it was not in compliance with the provision of the law which requires the statement to the police to be made under caution in the language spoken by the Appellant and in the exact words used by him and then translated into the language of the Court (English) since the Appellant is an illiterate. Counsel cited GUNDIRI v. NYAKO (2013) ALL FWLR Pt.698 Pg.816 at 828 Pg.856. Counsel also cited ZAKARI AHMED v. THE STATE (1999) 5 SCNJ 223.

On this point, the learned Respondent’s counsel argued that from the way ground 1 of the grounds of appeal donated at the Court of Appeal was couched, there was no challenge to the admissibility of Exh P6 and that the ruling which admitted same is still extant and binding on the Appellant.