Yekini Wahabi Okunnu V. The State (1977)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

G. IRIKEFE, J.S.C.

 The appellant was charged with having murdered one Risikatu Imam Balogun on 22nd June, 1972 at Ebimpejo Lane, Lagos and tried by O. R. I. George, J., (sitting with a jury).The evidence for the prosecution briefly is as follows. On 22nd June, 1972, the deceased, a girl  aged 8 was playing with other girls of her age group on the side of Ebimpejo Lane.

The other girls sat in a circle, and it is in evidence that the deceased was in the middle of this circle sitting on a mortar. Then suddenly, appearing as if from nowhere, the appellant came upon the group and dealt the deceased a vicious blow on the back of the head with the sharp cutting edge of an axe.

The force of impact was so great that the axe got impaled on the head of the deceased and had to be forcibly extracted therefrom by the appellant when P. W. 5 (Kike Balogun) a neighbour, who saw the appellant deal the blow, raised an alarm. Thereupon, the appellant quickly dropped the axe and made good his escape.

The deceased collapsed in a pool of blood and died that day. There is also evidence that brain matter from the deceased’s head got scattered around the scene.
Before this tragedy there was no evidence that any word had passed between the little girls as a group and the appellant.

Similarly, throughout the entire evidence it was not revealed that there had been any prior contact between the appellant and the deceased or for that matter, any of the girls comprised in the deceased’s group.

The behaviour of the appellant on that day was vividly dramatised in the testimony of P.W.3 (Adio Yussuf) who deposed thus:-

“I live at No. 11, Ebimpejo Lane Lagos. I am a seaman. I know the accused… I remember the 22nd June, 1972. On that day the accused came to our premises. He did not greet anybody and he was holding a bag in his hand. Then he went and sat on a pavement in front of our house. After sitting for a while, he stood up and walked for a distance of about six-feet. Then he came back to where he was sitting. Then he stood up and went to where he sat the first time. Then the accused took an axe from where he sat. As the accused looked back he struck the deceased Risikatu Balogun with the axe on the head.

He first examined the axe. Risikatu was sitting down where she was playing. When he hit the deceased on the head with an axe I was afraid and I ran away. About five minutes later I came back and I saw the deceased lying down face downward in a pool of blood. It was an iron axe that the accused used in striking the girl Risikatu”.

The appellant apparently went underground after this incident for two good days and re-surfaced at the same place at 6.30 a.m. on 24th June, 1972. He again came to No.11, Ebimpejo Lane and began knocking at the door. P.W. 3 asked to know who was knocking and the appellant said it was he. P.W. 3 then came out and with the aid of two other neighbours felled the appellant and had him arrested. When apprehended, the appellant was found with another axe hanging under his dress from a bicycle inner tube tied around his waist. The axe with which he struck the deceased had been abandoned by him at the scene. The captors of the appellant later handed him over to the police. The pathologist who performed autopsy on the body of the deceased gave the cause of death as fracture of the skull and intracranial haemorrhage.

In his defence at the trial, the appellant testified inter alia as follows:-

“I live at No.16, Farayibi Street, Somolu. I was formerly a soldier. I am now a motor mechanic. I tried to work… I mean I worked as a labourer with one Gbadebo a Builder. I remember the 22nd June, 1972. At about 1.30p.m. on that day I was at Ebimpejo Lane my father was living there before so I used to go there. He lived at 14, Ebimpejo Lane a compound. At about 1.30p.m. I had with me a bag of money and I was taking some money from the bag.

Exhibit “C” is not the bag. I don’t know where the bag is. I bought a box and came to Ebimpejo Lane with the bag. I wanted to given the box to somebody. The bag was full of coins. It contained $110 i.e. N320 I was trying to take out some money from the bag to give to one Mr. Opere a relative. I was counting the money I was surrounded by some children. They began to ask me to give them money. As I know only one of them I gave him #1. They were boys and girls playing together. As I was following them to go away I saw a group of people rushing towards me as I was about to beat them because they were pressing on me. These people wanted to take my money and I had not got sufficient time to count the money. I then took the money and ran into the house where Mr. Opere lived. The house was adjacent to the place where I was counting the money. I left the house later. I did not hold any axe. I did not strike anybody with any instrument before.

I don’t know RISIKATU BALOGUN (Emphasis is ours) I left the bag inside Opere’s house and left the money. On the 24th June, 1972, at about 6 a.m. I passed by the Cenotaph towards Ereko Street when I saw a group of people. They held me from the back and tied me with a rope Nothing was recovered from me. I asked them what have I done but they started to beat me. A few minutes later I saw some policemen with guns and I was taken to the Police Station. I was being carried to the Central Police Station when the policemen came.