Before Their Lordships
OLABODE RHODES- VIVOUR, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria
CHIMA CENTUS NWEZE, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria
AMIRU SANUSI, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria
EJEMBI EKO, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria
UWANI MUSA ABBA AJI, Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria
Between
JUDE ONWUZULIKE. Appellant
And
THE STATE. Respondent
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EKO, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): At the High Court of Anambra State, sitting at Otuocha, the appellant was tried and convicted for the offence of kidnapping contrary tosection 315(1)(b) of the Criminal Code Law of Anambra State (as amended in 2009). He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Both the conviction and sentence were on 15th February, 2017 affirmed by the Court of Appeal (the lower court) – hence this further appeal.
The parties seem to agree on the two issues formulated by the appellant for the determination of the appeal. That is:
1.Whether the court below was right when it failed to expunge from the record the computer-generated evidence (exhibits C and F3) on which the learned trial court heavily relied to convict and sentence the appellant for the offence of kidnapping when the admission of the said evidence ran contrary to the mandatory provisions of section 84(4) of the Evidence Act, 2011 regarding computer-generated evidence.(Ground 1)
2.Whether the learned trial Judge was right in his approach, findings and conclusions reached on the evidence adduced at the trial by which he convicted the appellant of the evidence of kidnapping? (Grounds 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18)
In the judgment (Tur, JCA, particularly at page 378 of the record, which Pemu and Bolaji-Yussuff, JSCA, concurred in) the lower court concluded:
“The evidence of the prosecution witnesses which stands unchallenged and is not discredited can be supported on the “last seen”; “last heard” and “last perceived” theory coupled with the grounds on which the opinion of these vital witnesses was held. Section 76 of the Evidence Act, 2011 provided as follows:
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’76. Whenever the opinion of any living person is permissible the grounds on which such opinion is based are also admissible.’
