Gozie Okeke V. The State (2003)

LAWGLOBAL HUB Lead Judgment Report

M. A. BELGORE, J.S.C.

The appellant was arraigned before Ezeani J. sitting at Awka in the High Court of Anambra State, for the murder of one Kenneth Ojukwu (hereinafter referred to as the “deceased”). The appellant, the deceased and some other persons living at Onitsha traded in foreign monies. The traders contributed foreign monies, the accused also contributed, for the deceased to take to Lagos in course of the same business in foreign exchange. He was to travel by road from Onitsha, but as the bridge linking the town to the western bank of River Niger at Asaba was blocked by an accident he decided to go to Enugu to travel to Lagos by air. The appellant offered the deceased a lift to Enugu in his car. The appellant borrowed a Volkswagen car from his sister and headed towards Enugu but after a few kilometres, somewhere between Umunya and Awka, the appellant took out the motor Jack inside the car, which was in motion, with him at the wheel, and hit the deceased on the head. There was a struggle between the deceased and the appellant whereby the appellant used penknife to stab the deceased at the neck. All along, the appellant knew the deceased carried foreign currency, including the appellant’s own contribution. The money was mainly in CFA Francs. The deceased, having been grievously injured, managed to jump out of the car and a road user saw the appellant’s car pursuing the deceased along the road and he reported to police at the next check point.

The appellant made three voluntary statements in each of which he admitted attacking the deceased with the motor jack and a knife. In the statements, he never denied inflicting the injuries found on the deceased, he only maintained he never intended to kill but to get himself into police net and get, in the process, his father consenting to his proposal to marry a certain girl. The first two statements to police, he denied ever making voluntarily; but after trial within trial learned trial Judge ruled that they were voluntarily made. The third statement to the police was not challenged and it was also admitted in evidence. It is remarkable that the appellant who made statements to the police on 28th and 29th September, 1991 respectively, later resiled from them after making the third statement. In the first two statements he stated vividly how he attacked the deceased with motor hydraulic jack and a sharp knife, but in the third statement became somewhat evasive even though admitting hitting the deceased on the head with a heavy object. Towards the end of the third statement he wrote:

” … That was how I came to Abagana police station and make (sic) statement (sic) on 28/9/91 and 29/9/91. I still adopt the two statement as part of my statement to the police.”

When the appellant resiled from the first two statements one wonders what he would achieved with the third statement above in place. The sum total of his defence at the trial court was that he in fact hit the deceased on the head with a heavy motor jack and stabbed him with a knife in the neck, but he did not want to kill him. He only wanted to create a scene so that he would have police trouble whereby his father would allow him to marry a certain girl the father objected to. He claimed also that he purchased and smoked cocaine; but his vivid description of how he attacked the deceased seemed not to destroy his reasoning faculty.

The trial High Court Judge (Ezeani, J.) after reviewing the whole evidence before him concluded that the accused murdered the deceased by hitting him on the head with a heavy steel object and by stabbing him whereby he suffered massive haemorrhage which caused his death. He considered the defence of intoxication which he found did not avail the appellant because if the appellant had any impairment of the brain, it was self-induced as he deliberately took cocaine. He therefore found the appellant guilty of murder and accordingly convicted him as such under S. 274(1) of Criminal Code Law, (Cap.36) Laws of Anambra State 1986 and sentenced him to death.

There was an appeal to Court of Appeal Enugu on grounds of appeal ranging from misdirection to admission of statements as voluntary, from the effect of intoxication through cocaine, to the manner the voluntary statements were authenticated; and of course the general ground. The Court of Appeal, adverted to the formulated issues before it, which run as follows:

“1. Whether the learned trial Judge was right in law in convicting the appellant of murder on the sole ground that the offence was committed in a state or condition of self induced without any regard as to proof of a specific intent or whether the influence of cocaine was such as to render the appellant incapable of forming the specific or requisite intent.

2. Whether the learned trial Judge was right in convicting the appellant merely on the ground that the accused signed the alleged confessional statements.
3. Whether the trial Judge was right in law in admitting in evidence the alleged confession made by the appellant in the presence of one Michael Okonkwo PW 1 when he was brought out by the D.C.O. and without cautioning him.
4. Whether it was right to treat the alleged stains found on the money, jack or wheel spanner as corroborative evidence of the alleged confessional statements or circumstantial evidence connecting the appellant with the crime when there was no positive or conclusive evidence that it was human blood.
5. Whether the appellant was charged under a law in existence at the time of the commission of the offence. If the answer is in the negative, whether the trial Judge should have convicted of the offence as charged.
6. Whether the trial Judge properly evaluated the evidence of both sides.”

And came to the conclusion that the appeal lacked merit. The lower court observed that the appellant knew the deceased carried huge sums of foreign money and after attacking the deceased he took substantial part of these to his house where he hid it in the ceiling. The motive, which was to take these sums of foreign money, influenced the appellant, rather than the self-induced intoxication through the cocaine he smoked. Court of Appeal therefore found no merit in the appeal and dismissed it. Thus the appeal to Supreme Court.

The appellant in this appeal departed entirely from the issues canvassed in the two lower courts, even though on points of law in five of the grounds. The grounds are:

“i. The appellant as accused was not properly arraigned at the trial court and Court of Appeal erred in affirming conviction based on that arraignment.

ii. There was no fair-hearing at trial court because of the delay of about seven years in contravention of S. 33(4) of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1979 and Court of Appeal erred to affirm conviction based on that trial.

iii. The appellant was not “meaningfully and effectually” defended by counsel at trial court and Court of Appeal was in error to affirm conviction based on that trial.

iv. The Court of Appeal, in affirming the trial court’s decision that defence of insanity did not avail the appellant erred in law.