Ganiyu Nasiru V. The State (1999)

LAWGLOBAL HUB Lead Judgment Report

UWAIS, C.J.N

This is an appeal from the decision of the Court of Appeal, Ibadan. The appellant was charged with and convicted of the murder of Saliu Kolade contrary to section 316 subsection (3) of the Criminal Code, Cap. 29 of the Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria 1978, punishahle under section 319 thereof.

The facts of the case are simple. The deceased was a taxi driver. His taxi which was a Volkswagen Beetle car bore the registration number OG 9725 T. On the 12th day of April, 1985 the deceased was approached and requested at Sango Otta motor park by the accused who was accompanied by one Taju, to take them in his taxi to Ado-Odo. The deceased agreed to do so. He charged N10.00 as the fare and the amount was instantly paid to him by the accused. The deceased started the journey from the motor park, with the accused and Taju in the taxi. By 10.00pm, in the night of the same day, the taxi was parked outside the house of P.W.7 Akintunde Oshunsina and P.W.3 Oladunjoye Olakitan at Isaga compound in Ado-Odo. The accused drove the taxi to the Isaga compound in company of Taju. The deceased was not with them nor did he drive the car to the Isaga compound. The accused saw P.W.7 and asked him about P.W.3 who was then not at home. On learning that P.W.3 was absent, the accused and Taju left in the taxi with the former driving. Later in the night they returned to Isaga compound and met P.W.3 who had then returned to his house. Both accused and Taju sought the permission of P.W.3 for them to stay the night in his house. P.W.3 agreed to their request. The taxi was parked outside the Isaga compound.

P.W. 7 enquired from the accused about the owner of the taxi and why they chose to stay the night with him. The accused answered that the taxi belonged to Taju and that they were unable to arrive at the Isaga compound earlier than they did because the men of Customs and Excise Department had set up roadblocks on the way. The accused also mentioned to P.W.7 that they were on their way to Lagos but had to stay the night at Ado-Odo because of the presence of Customs and Excise officials on the route to Lagos. At 7.00 a.m. on the 13th day of April, 1985, when P.W.7 woke up from sleep, he discovered that the accused, Taju and P.W.3 had left Isaga compound.

In his testimony, P.W.3 said that the accused and one other person came to him on the 12th day of April, 1995 in a taxi at his house in Isaga compound. They both asked for his permission to stay the night with him. They indicated to him that they were on a business trip. He allowed them to stay the night. On the 13th day of April, 1985 in the morning, the accused and Taju said to P.W.3 that they did not have money on them. P.W.3 gave them N20 and 2 bottles of a drink. They left the house of P.W.3 in the taxi while P.W.3 went to his place of work. P.W.3 left for Agege on the same day and when he was returning to Ado-Odo from there, he saw both the accused and Taju somewhere on the road near Alapoti village. They were at the road side when P.W.3 asked them why they were still in Ado-Odo and they replied that they had smuggled (contraband) goods in the taxi and that the road was blocked by Customs and Excise officials who had mounted roadblocks on the road. As the taxi was not in their company when P.W.3 saw them, he asked about the taxi and they pointed to him at where it was parked. P.W. 3 left them at the spot and returned to his house.

On the 14th day of April, 1985, P,W,3 while at his house in Isaga compound saw a number of policemen who came to him in a police vehicle. They asked him about ‘”Akin” who was then not present in the house. He told them that Akin had gone to drink. The policemen asked him to take them to the drink place. As they got there Akin took to his heels but he was pursued and later arrested by the police. Later the policemen asked of the accused and P.W.3 took them to the accused’s house which was in the township of Ado-Odo. On reaching the house both P.W.3 and the policemen saw the accused coming out of the house and was about to enter a taxi. The accused entered the taxi and beckoned to them to follow. In the taxi were the driver and Taju. The taxi took off and the police vehicle followed it. After about 30 minutes of chasing the taxi around Ado-Odo town, the policemen caught up with the taxi. They arrested the accused but Taju escaped the arrest.

While being cross-examined by counsel for the accused at the trial court, P.W. 3 said that he knew the accused as a smuggler. He also said that the accused and Taju left his house on the 13th day of April, 1985 early in the morning at 5.00 a.m.

P.W. 1, Moshood Olawole, testified that the taxi driven by the deceased was given to the deceased by him on the 12th day of April, 1985, on behalf of the owner for the deceased to drive it as a taxi. He said that the taxi belonged to one Mr. David Falade. When by the 13th day of April, 1985 the deceased did not return the taxi to him, P.W. 1 went to Mr. Falade to make a report. They both decided to report to the police about the missing taxi and the deceased. The police advised them to make further inquiries about the whereabouts of the deceased and the taxi,

P.W.1 went to Otta Motor Park where on inquiry he learnt that it was the accused that hired the taxi the previous day to take him to Ado-Odo. P.W. 1 together with the wife of Mr. Falade and the wife of the deceased went to Ado-Odo to find out about the accused and the deceased. Although they were informed that the taxi was seen in Ado-Odo the previous day and on the 13th day of April, 1985, they did not succeed in either tracing the taxi or the accused. They, therefore, returned to Sango Otta and went to the police station to inform the police about the outcome of their inquiries in Ado-Odo. The policemen asked P.W.1 to return to the station the following day.

On the 14th day of April, 1985, P.W.1 returned to the police station, He was taken by the policemen to the General Hospital at Ilaro, and at the mortuary of the hospital, he was shown a dead body, He immediately identified it as the corpse of Saliu Kolade. P.W.1 and the police returned to the police station at Sango Otta, P.W.1 and 2 policemen went to Ado-Odo for further investigation. At the Isaga compound the policemen arrested a person who informed them that the taxi driven by the deceased was parked outside the compound in the night on the 12th day of April. 1985. The man was arrested by the police and he took the team to a place in the vicinity of Alapoti village, where the taxi driven by the deceased was found.

P.W.6. Surajo Akinyele, of Attan-Otta testified that on the 13th day of April 1985 he was in the company of his fellow villagers, with whom he went to fetch water, when his attention was called by the noise of children who had discovered a corpse. P.W.6 picked up the corpse which was lying in a gutter. He left the corpse and went to report the incident to his father. Together with his father, they went to Sango Otta Police Station to make a report to the police. The witness observed that the corpse suffered wounds all over. He said that it was later taken from the scene to the mortuary at the hospital.

P.W.5 said. in his testimony, that he was on duty on the 13th day of April, 1985, at Sango Otta Police Station when a case of “sudden and unnatural death” was referred to him for investigation. He left for Atan Otta and somewhere on the way at “the old Ajegunle Road”, he was shown the corpse of a young man lying in a gutter. With the help or some people who were around, he removed the corpse to the mortuary of Ilaro State Hospital where he deposited it.

On the following day- the 14th day of April, 1985 – P.W.5 arrested the accused at Ado-Odo. Later on he was taken to a farm near Alapoti village by P.W.3 where he recovered the taxi driven by the deceased, which was reported missing. On returning to the police station, he charged the accused with the murder of the deceased. He spoke to the accused in Pidgin English. After cautioning the accused, he volunteered to make a statement. Accused spoke to P.W.5 in Pidgin English also. The statement was recorded and was signed by the accused after it was read to him by the witness. The statement was tendered without objection by the accused and it was admitted as “Exh. A-A 1″ at the trial.

P.W.4 Alhaji Jimoh Kolade, testified that he was the full-brother of the deceased. He said that he received information on the 14th day of April, 1985 that the corpse of his brother was discovered. He went to Ilaro State Hospital where he saw the corpse of the deceased in the mortuary. He said that he identified the corpse to a doctor in the hospital.