Alhaji Jibrin Okabichi & Ors Vs The State (1975)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

B. A. COKER, J.S.C. 

The seven appellants were all tried and convicted by Adesiyun J. (High Court, Lokoja) for culpable homicide punishable with death pursuant to section 221 (a) of the Penal Code and sentenced to death. The charge against them reads as follows:

“THAT YOU, (1) Alhaji Jibrin Okabichi, (2) Abdul Saba, (3); Obaje Eze, (4) Abdullahi Labuja, (5) Achimi Ameh, (6) James Agada and (7) John Owuchala, on or about the 4th day of April, 1972, at Ankpa in Kwara Judicial Division did commit culpable homicide punishable with death in that you caused the death of one Daniel Abutu by inflicting wounds on his neck with the intention of causing his death and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 221 (a) of the Penal Code read with section 79 of the Penal Code. ”

There were fourteen witnesses for the prosecution but none of the appellants gave any evidence or called any witnesses. There is but little evidence concerning the killing of Daniel Abutu but such evidence as there was sufficiently established that the 1st appellant, Alhaji Jibrin Okabichi, had either killed the deceased or had aided others in doing so. Yesufu Ogidi, P.W. 1, however, gave evidence to the effect that appellants Nos. 3,5,6 and himself and one Issa Jibrin were responsible for carrying the corpse of the deceased from the under-cellar of an uncompleted building and planting it on a tree in the bush to give the impression that Daniel Abutu had hanged himself. It was in this bush and in this position that his corpse was discovered by the villagers and the police. P.W. 1 testified thus:

“Accused one then asked us to go to an underground house between 10 pm. and 11 p.m. There, we should remove a dead body to a bush. He added that John Mechanic would drive us to the place. I was going there at about 10.30 p.m. when I met accused 4. I also met accused 3, accused 5, accused 7. Before I arrived at the scene I met a vehicle with the accused persons I had just mentioned. I lit my torchlight I also met Issa Jibrin holding a torchlight and John Mechanic. When I lit my torch light, I saw accused 3, 5, 6, 7 and Issa Jibrin carrying the corpse of Abutu into the vehicle John Mechanic then drove us away in the vehicle into the bush. ”

According to the witness, on getting into the bush they took over the corpse from the motor vehicle, laid it on the ground where the 3rd appellant shaved the hair off the head of the corpse. He testified further as follows:

“Accused 7 asked us to bring the corpse, we then lifted the corpse up. Accused 7 then tied a rope round the neck of the corpse, he also wrote something on a piece of paper which he put inside the pocket  of the deceased. Before lifting up of the corpse to accused 7, he ordered us to cover our faces with our gowns and we did so. It was then that accused 7 put rope around the neck of the  deceased. It was  at this stage that I said if the errand sent us by our boss was right; at this stage accused 7 slapped me on my face.”

The mission to the cellar of the uncompleted building and the bush where the body was suspended on a tree, was confirmed by John Okeme, who was the 2nd P.W. There was as well evidence that on getting the news of the disappearance of the deceased, Daniel Abutu, on the 5th April, 1972, the 3rd P. W., Laja Olugbami, along with others, organised a search for the corpse on the following day. The search took him and the others to the house of Daniel Abutu where the young child of Daniel Abutu (i.e. Mary Ojoma) 5th P.W., related to him the story of how the 2nd appellant, Abdul Saba, had come into the house of the deceased and called him out and his failure to return ever since. The young witness, Mary Ojoma, was a schoolgirl of some nine years old at the time of her testimony and indeed stated that she did “not know the value of oath”. She however indisputably identified the 2nd appellant, Abdul Saba, as the person who had called out her father on the day of his death. There was further evidence, at any rate from the 2nd P.W., John Okeme, that on the instructions of the 1st appellant, he drove appellants Nos. 3, 4 and 7 on the 8th April, 1972, to the cellar of an uncompleted building near the D.O.’s house. This witness said that on arriving at the uncompleted building
“About five minutes later, I heard footsteps and got out of the vehicle and stood by it. I saw when the people put a dead body inside the vehicle. I saw when accused 4 lit a torch light and off it. As I was about to re-enter the vehicle and kick it, P.W. 1 came out and entered the motor with them. Among the people I know are P. W. 1 accused 3 and accused 7.

When we arrived at about 1/2 mile to Egbechi, I stopped after hearing some beatings on the vehicle. There, the dead body was taken down from the vehicle. They took the dead body through a footpath to the bush. P.W. 1 asked Issa Jibrin to light his torch. Issa came down from the vehicle and followed them.

I reversed the vehicle before they came back. They all re-entered the vehicle. I later returned the vehicle to the yard before I went to my house. On the following morning I went to the house of the accused one but I did not meet him. His son called Abutu said he was away to the farm.

On Monday, when I saw accused one in front of his car, I asked him whose corpse did he asked us to convey last Saturday. He made a sign with his hand to his mouth that I should keep quiet.”

The story of the discovery of the corpse of Daniel Abutu was vividly told by the 4th P.W., Police Sergeant Stephen Daaor. He had received certain information concerning the corpse and its location. He described his recollection of the scene where the corpse was discovered as follows:

“At the scene it looked like a forest with many trees. At the scene, Abdu Oseni pointed at a body hanging on a branch of a tree with a rope made of palm tree material tied around his neck. I moved near and examined the body and identified it as that of Daniel Salami Abutu whom I had known before. He had only a pair of trousers on without shoes. The feet were well balanced on the ground; I observed that the eyeballs and the tongue were absent from the body. No hair on his head. I measured my height with the branch of the tree where the body was hanging; it was my own height (my height is 5 feet 10 inches). The length of the rope from the neck of the deceased to the branch of the tree was 2 feet. ”

It is pertinent to observe that this description of, the scene and the position and condition of the corpse of Daniel Abutu were also confirmed by the 10th P.W., Adeyemi Johnson, a photographer. He stated thus: