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From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Supreme Court has affirmed the conviction and death sentence imposed on a Kaduna-based man, Abu Umar, for fatally stabbing another man during a fight.
A five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Jummai-Hannatu Sankey, unanimously dismissed Umar’s appeal, holding that it lacked merit.
The court upheld the July 22, 2020 judgment of the Court of Appeal in Kaduna, which affirmed the December 14, 2017 decision of the Kaduna State High Court sentencing Umar to death for culpable homicide.
The apex court agreed with the submissions of counsel to the Kaduna State Government, Emmanuel Ekpenyong, who appeared for the prosecution with the fiat of the state Attorney-General.
Ekpenyong argued that the prosecution had established the charge beyond reasonable doubt through credible evidence presented during the trial.
Although the judgment was delivered on April 17, its Certified True Copy (CTC) became available to journalists in Abuja yesterday.
Umar had approached the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal dismissed his earlier appeal against the judgment of the Kaduna State High Court in charge number KDH/KAD/29C/2016.
He had been charged with one count of culpable homicide punishable with death under Section 221(b) of the Penal Code Law of Kaduna State.
The prosecution alleged that on June 25, 2015, at Tafa Town in Niger State, Umar stabbed one Abdulkadir Abubakar on the right side of the chest during a fight.
Abubakar later died at Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Hospital, Sabon Wuse, where he was rushed for treatment.
Following the incident, Umar was arrested at the scene and taken to Tafa Police Station before the case was transferred to the Anti-Homicide Section of the Kaduna State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.
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At the trial before Justice G.I. Kurada, the prosecution called three witnesses and tendered three exhibits, including the knife allegedly used in committing the offence.
Rather than testify or call witnesses, Umar elected to rest his defence on the prosecution’s case.
After evaluating the evidence, the trial court convicted and sentenced him to death.
Dissatisfied, Umar appealed to the Court of Appeal, which dismissed the appeal in July 2020 and upheld the conviction.
Still aggrieved, he filed a further appeal before the Supreme Court through his lawyer, Umar Galadima, contending that the prosecution failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Sankey held that the prosecution had established all the ingredients of the offence through eyewitness testimony, the appellant’s extra-judicial confessional statement and other exhibits tendered before the court.
On the argument that no medical report was produced to establish the cause of death, Justice Sankey held that settled law does not require medical evidence where death occurs shortly after the injury.
“In the circumstance of this case, medical evidence ceases to take a paramount place, the deceased having died a mere one hour and thirty minutes after admission in hospital,” she held.
The justice further observed that Umar weakened his own case by electing to rely entirely on the prosecution’s evidence.
“The prosecution discharged the burden placed on it by law to establish the guilt of the appellant beyond reasonable doubt. Unfortunately, the appellant was ill-advised to rest his case on the very evidence that conclusively established his guilt,” she said.
The court subsequently dismissed the appeal and affirmed the conviction and death sentence imposed by the Kaduna State High Court.
