Benjamin Obiora V. The State (2007)

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AYOBODE OLUJIMI LOKULO-SODIPE, J.C.A.

The appeal is against the judgment delivered on 11/7/2014 by the High Court of Imo State sitting in the Oguta Judicial Division presided over by Ikpeama, J; (hereafter to be simply referred to as the lower Court and ?learned trial Judge? respectively). Having regard to the record, the Appellant was the 2nd accused person in an Information preferred against him and 5 other accused persons and in which they were all charged with the offence of murder contrary to Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code Cap. 30, Vol. II, Laws of Eastern Nigeria, 1963 (hereafter to be simply referred to as ?Cap. 30, LEN?) as now applicable in Imo State. In the particulars of the offence, all the accused persons set out in the Information (including the Appellant) were alleged to have murdered one Victor Okon at Akoi Oshimiri Farmland in the Oguta Judicial Division. (See page 2 of the record). Five accused persons were listed in the Information as at 9/6/2008 with the Appellant being the 1st accused person therein. The pleas of the five accused persons in question were

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taken on the aforesaid 9/6/2008 and each of them pleaded not guilty to the offence charged. The prosecution called 5 witnesses in the proof of its case; and each of the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th accused persons testified in his own behalf. It was disclosed in the judgment of the lower Court on page 191 of the record that the 2nd accused person rested his case on the case of the prosecution. Having embarked on an extensive summarization and evaluation of the evidence (including statements of witnesses) before it as well as the written addresses of the prosecution and the accused persons, the lower Court obliquely found that the Appellant not implicated in the murder for which he and his co-accused persons were charged, but found him (Appellant) to be ?an accessory after the fact under Section 10 of the Criminal Code?; while the prosecution was found to have proved beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the 5th accused person in the Information in respect of the murder in question. The lower Court consequently concluded in its judgment thus: –

?In the circumstances, I hold that the prosecution has proved its case against the 1st accused as an

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accessory after the fact of murder and 5th accused person for murder. I find the 1st accused guilty as an accessory after the fact of murder and the 5th accused guilty of murder as charged.?

(Underline provided by me)

Suffice it to say that while the lower Court sentenced the 1st accused person (i.e. Appellant) to a term of 3 years imprisonment (and apparently with no option of fine), it sentenced the 5th accused person to death as mandatorily required by law.

The Appellant being aggrieved with his conviction as an accessory after the fact to murder and the sentence imposed on him, initiated the instant appeal by an undated notice of appeal lodged in the registry of the lower Court on 6/8/2014. The notice of appeal contains three grounds of appeal. The grounds shorn of their respective particulars read thus: –

?GROUND ONE

The learned trial judge erred in law in convicting and finding the appellant guilty of being an accessory after the fact of murder when the charge was not proved beyond reasonable doubt as required by law.

GROUND TWO

The learned trial judge erred in law when he held as follows: