Judgment
ADAMU JAURO, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This appeal is against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Judicial Division wherein the Court affirmed the judgment of the High Court of Rivers State convicting the Appellant and two others for the offence of murder contrary to Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code, Laws of Eastern Nigeria, 1963 as applicable to Rivers State.
BRIEF FACTS OF THE CASE The Appellant was arraigned with five others for the death of one Baribiae Iledae. The case of the Respondent was that the deceased and his sister, one Cecilia Tor-ue who testified as PW1 went to the deceased’s farm to do some work. PW1 in her evidence on oath testified that on their way back from the farm, the Appellant, the 1st and 3rd accused persons and others still at large who were in the 1st accused person’s Peugeot 504 drove past them, but then reversed the car and attacked the deceased with knives and axes while others joined them from the bush.
PW1 testified further that she went to a nearby village to call for help and upon her return to the scene of crime, the assailants had killed the deceased as a result of multiple machete wounds and left his body in the bush. That the following morning, she reported the matter to the village head, one HRH Mene Baridam of Lumene village who wrote her a letter which she took to the police.
According to PW1’s narrative, prior to the incident which culminated into the killing of her brother, there was a pending litigation between the deceased and the 1st accused person whose car was used in conveying the killers to the crime scene.
On his part, the Appellant denied committing the offence charged. He denied making a statement to the police which was tendered and admitted as Exhibit J and J2. At the conclusion of trial and after the adoption of final written addresses, the learned trial Judge delivered a considered judgment wherein he found the Appellant and two others guilty as charged and sentenced them to death by hanging.
The convicts were dissatisfied with the judgment of the trial Court and appealed to the Court below, albeit unsuccessfully. However, in a bid to exhaust his constitutionally guaranteed right of appeal, the Appellant in the instant appeal has invoked the appellate jurisdiction of this Court via a notice of appeal containing nine (9) grounds of appeal filed on 4th May, 2018.
