Rex V. Okriyi Igiri (1948)

LawGlobal Hub Judgment Report – West African Court of Appeal

Criminal Law—Honticide–Provocation.

Facts

The appellant’s wife taunted him with incompetence and then spat in his face. The appellant immediately shot her.

The trial Judge convicted the appellant of murder.

Held

On appeal, that the trial Judge should have considered the question of provocation (which, from his judgment, it appeared he did not do) for words of provocation coupled with such an act as spitting upon the person to whom the words are addressed may (though they need not necessarily) have the effect of reducing the crime from murder to manslaughter.

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Appeal allowed and conviction for manslaughter substituted.