3PLR – IDENYI V. THE QUEEN
POLICY, PRACTICE AND PUBLISHING, LAW REPORTS 3PLR
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IDENYI
V.
THE QUEEN
FEDERAL SUPREME COURT OF NIGERIA
30TH OCTOBER, 1959.
F.S.C. 197/1959
3PLR/1959/55 (SC)
OTHER CITATIONS
BEFORE THEIR LORDSHIPS
SIR ADETOKUNBO ADEMOLA, F.C.J. (Presided)
LIONEL BRETT, F.J. (Read the ruling of the Court)
SAMUEL OKAI QUASHIE-IDUN, F.J.
BETWEEN
- NWAFA IDENYI
- NWUGURU OGU
- NWODOM ALEZE
- NWODOM INYIMA
AND
THE QUEEN
REPRESENTATION
- K. SOFOLA – for the 3rd Appellant.
- B. O. KAZEEM -for the Respondent.
MAIN ISSUES
CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE: – Murder – Cult-related killings – Evidence of accomplices – Whether corroboration required to ground conviction – When statements of accused can serve as corroboration
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – EVIDENCE: – Accomplices – Corroboration – Written statements of accused – Whether they can serve as corroboration – Duty of court thereto
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS: – Right to Life, Fair Hearing and Protection under the Law – Brutal lynching of a woman for grieving over the lynching of her two brothers by a dreaded cult group, Odozi Obodo – Attitude of courts thereto
CHILDREN AND WOMEN LAW: – Security of women and family life – Murder of a woman/wife for crying over the extra-judicial killing of her two brothers by a cult-group – Act perpetrated by a local society (Odozi-Obodo) dedicated to punishing alleged thieves and their relatives who cry on their behalf – Husband of woman threatened with death if he did not send wife on an errand where she would be killed – Attitude of courts thereto
MAIN JUDGMENT
BRETT, F.J. (Delivering the Ruling of the Court):
The three applicants, with eleven other men, were charged before the High Court of the Eastern Region with the murder of a woman named Elom Ewa. Ten of the accused were acquitted and discharged at the close of the case for the prosecution, and four of the accused, including the applicants were ultimately convicted, and applied for leave to appeal against their convictions. We held that there were no grounds for giving leave to appeal to the first, second and fourth applicants, Nwafa Idenyi, Nwuguru Ogo and Nwodum Inyima and dismissed their applications. The third applicant, Nwodom Aleze, was granted leave to appeal, and after hearing argument we allowed his appeal. We now give our reasons for refusing the applications of the other three.
The deceased woman was murdered in circumstances of great brutality by members of the Iziola – Isieke village branch of what is now the notorious Odozi Obodo Society, which existed for the purpose of requiring suspected thieves to redeem themselves by a payment of money, and killing them if they failed to do so. Two of the woman’s brothers had been killed by the Society, on what pretext we do not know. The woman’s only offence was that she gave way to her natural feelings of grief at the death of her brothers. In the words of her husband, Nweke Nwogboga, “The Society killed two brothers of hers. She wept that day and continued weeping the following day. This is contrary to the Society’s rules. Relations of victims killed are not allowed to weep, for fear of their reporting the matter.” Her husband was told that she must redeem herself with a payment of £20, and when he said that he had not got £20, the head of the Society, one Nwiboko Obodo, who has been hanged for another murder committed by the Society, ordered that she should be killed. A meeting of members of the Society belonging to the village was held one night in the village square, and it was arranged with the woman’s husband that he should send her on an errand the following morning, and the other members should waylay and kill her. The plan was duly carried out, and the woman was waylayed by a stream, held under water and drowned, by a number of men acting in concert. The question was whether the three applicants were among those who took part.
The witnesses called by the prosecution included not only the woman’s husband but two witnesses who admitted having taken part in the murder themselves, and the learned Judge rightly treated all three of these witnesses as accomplices and declined to convict those of the accused against whom their evidence was uncorroborated. The four applicants had all made statements under caution to the police, which were produced at the trial. When each of them came to give evidence he denied having made the statement attributed to him, but in view of the precautions which the police had taken to ensure that the statements were correctly recorded, the Judge held that they were an accurate record of what each of the accused had said, and that they provided the necessary corroboration.
There was unquestionably ample justification for treating the statements of the first, second and fourth applicants as corroborating the evidence of the accomplices. The first and second applicants admit having taken a physical part in the drowning of the woman, and the fourth admits having helped to escort her to the place where she was to be killed. There were no grounds on which we could properly have reversed the finding of the trial Judge and the applications for leave to appeal were accordingly dismissed.
Application Refused
IDENYI
V.
THE QUEEN
FEDERAL SUPREME COURT OF NIGERIA
30TH OCTOBER, 1959.
F.S.C. 197/1959
CWLR (1959) 15
OTHER CITATIONS
LN-e-LR/1959/55 (SC)
__________________________
CHILDREN AND WOMEN LAW: – Security of women and family life – Murder of a woman/wife for crying over the extra-judicial killing of her two brothers by a cult-group – Act perpetrated by a local society (Odozi-Obodo) dedicated to punishing alleged thieves and their relatives who cry on their behalf – Husband of woman threatened with death if he did not send wife on an errand where she would be killed – Attitude of courts thereto
__________________________
BEFORE THEIR LORDSHIPS
SIR ADETOKUNBO ADEMOLA, F.C.J. (Presided)
LIONEL BRETT, F.J. (Read the ruling of the Court)
SAMUEL OKAI QUASHIE-IDUN, F.J.
BETWEEN
- NWAFA IDENYI
- NWUGURU OGU
- NWODOM ALEZE
- NWODOM INYIMA
AND
THE QUEEN
REPRESENTATION
- K. SOFOLA – for the 3rd Appellant.
- B. O. KAZEEM -for the Respondent.
OTHER ISSUES
CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE: – Murder – Cult-related killings – Evidence of accomplices – Whether corroboration required to ground conviction – When statements of accused can serve as corroboration
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – EVIDENCE: – Accomplices – Corroboration – Written statements of accused – Whether they can serve as corroboration – Duty of court thereto
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS: – Right to Life, Fair Hearing and Protection under the Law – Brutal lynching of a woman for grieving over the lynching of her two brothers by a dreaded cult group, Odozi Obodo – Attitude of courts thereto
MAIN JUDGMENT
BRETT, F.J. (Delivering the Ruling of the Court):
The three applicants, with eleven other men, were charged before the High Court of the Eastern Region with the murder of a woman named Elom Ewa. Ten of the accused were acquitted and discharged at the close of the case for the prosecution, and four of the accused, including the applicants were ultimately convicted, and applied for leave to appeal against their convictions. We held that there were no grounds for giving leave to appeal to the first, second and fourth applicants, Nwafa Idenyi, Nwuguru Ogo and Nwodum Inyima and dismissed their applications. The third applicant, Nwodom Aleze, was granted leave to appeal, and after hearing argument we allowed his appeal. We now give our reasons for refusing the applications of the other three.
The deceased woman was murdered in circumstances of great brutality by members of the Iziola – Isieke village branch of what is now the notorious Odozi Obodo Society, which existed for the purpose of requiring suspected thieves to redeem themselves by a payment of money, and killing them if they failed to do so. Two of the woman’s brothers had been killed by the Society, on what pretext we do not know. The woman’s only offence was that she gave way to her natural feelings of grief at the death of her brothers. In the words of her husband, Nweke Nwogboga, “The Society killed two brothers of hers. She wept that day and continued weeping the following day. This is contrary to the Society’s rules. Relations of victims killed are not allowed to weep, for fear of their reporting the matter.” Her husband was told that she must redeem herself with a payment of £20, and when he said that he had not got £20, the head of the Society, one Nwiboko Obodo, who has been hanged for another murder committed by the Society, ordered that she should be killed. A meeting of members of the Society belonging to the village was held one night in the village square, and it was arranged with the woman’s husband that he should send her on an errand the following morning, and the other members should waylay and kill her. The plan was duly carried out, and the woman was waylayed by a stream, held under water and drowned, by a number of men acting in concert. The question was whether the three applicants were among those who took part.
The witnesses called by the prosecution included not only the woman’s husband but two witnesses who admitted having taken part in the murder themselves, and the learned Judge rightly treated all three of these witnesses as accomplices and declined to convict those of the accused against whom their evidence was uncorroborated. The four applicants had all made statements under caution to the police, which were produced at the trial. When each of them came to give evidence he denied having made the statement attributed to him, but in view of the precautions which the police had taken to ensure that the statements were correctly recorded, the Judge held that they were an accurate record of what each of the accused had said, and that they provided the necessary corroboration.
There was unquestionably ample justification for treating the statements of the first, second and fourth applicants as corroborating the evidence of the accomplices. The first and second applicants admit having taken a physical part in the drowning of the woman, and the fourth admits having helped to escort her to the place where she was to be killed. There were no grounds on which we could properly have reversed the finding of the trial Judge and the applications for leave to appeal were accordingly dismissed.
Application Refused
