Saturday Ndike V. The State (1994)

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OGWUEGBU, J.S.C.

The appellant, Saturday Ndike was tried, convicted and sentenced to death by Ungbuku, J. as he then was in the High Court of River State, Port Harcourt Judicial Division. He was charged with the murder of one Aminikpo Dodoo on 1:8:81.

The facts of the case were that on 1:8:81, the deceased invited friends and relations to join him celebrate the roofing of his house with corrugated iron sheets.

While the party was going on, the appellant arrived at about 8 p.m. uninvited. The deceased turned him out. As a result, a fight ensued between two of them. They were separated by P.W.1 and P.W.3 among others. The appellant thereafter left the premises of the deceased promising to show him something that day.

At about 9 p.m the same night, the deceased was heard shouting in Tai-Eleme dialect to the effect that the appellant had killed him. P.W.1 rushed to the scene and saw Aminikpo Dodoo lying dead at the scene. He held the deceased who was his elder brother and tried to give him first aid. He later left the scene and went to the house of the appellant. P.W.1 stated that he saw the appellant running inside the bush.

P.W.3 – Dayor Ndaka in his evidence told the court how the appellant came to the house of the deceased that evening as they were having a party. The deceased told him not to enter his house because he was in the habit of beating his mother (appellant’s mother) every day and to allow him in would give the impression that the deceased supported the behaviour of the appellant.

When the appellant refused to go, a fight ensued. He left after the fight promising that he would show the deceased something that day. P.W.3 heard the deceased shout in Tai dialect that the appellant was killing him. He, P.W.1 and others ran to the scene with a lantern. He saw the deceased on the ground. Blood was rushing from his head and the face. They took him to Okrika General Hospital in a vehicle. It was part of his evidence that the medical officer admitted and treated the deceased. He later received a message from the hospital that the deceased had died”. They later reported the incident at Ogu Police Station. The appellant was arrested.

Under cross-examination, the witness testified that he was present during the fight in the premises of the deceased. He was about one hundred metres away from the scene of crime and that the deceased was shouting the name of the appellant:

The witness further testified that the appellant confessed to the police that he hit the deceased.

The 2nd P.W. was one Dr. Bautista – a medical officer residing at the Doctors’ Quarters in Ahoada General Hospital. He testified that on 2:2:81, a patient was brought to the Okrika General Hospital and he admitted him. He stated that the patient had a lacerated wound at the forehead which he treated; that it was an open wound caused by either a sharp or blunt object which caused serious damage to the brain and that the patient was semi-conscious at the time he was brought to the hospital. He testified further that the patient died in the evening. He performed the post mortem examination on the body at the request of the police.

He gave the name of the deceased as Aminikpo Dodoo and that the name was given to him by the police and the relations of the deceased.

He stated that the cause of death was due to intercrania haemorrhage and secondary acute head injury and that the deceased was brought to the hospital some hours after the injury.

Police Sergeant – Sunday Sam testified as P.WA. He was on duty at the Okrika Police Station when the complaint was referred to him for investigation.

The witnesses and the appellant were brought to him. He was present when the post mortem examination was performed by P.W.2. He testified that P.W.1 and P.W.3 identified the corpse and that at that stage, the appellant was on the run. He recorded the statement of the appellant-Exhibits “1”, “2” and “5”.