The presiding judge of Jigawa State High Court No 5 sitting at Hadejia, Justice Ado Yusuf Birnin Kudu, has discharged and acquitted one Sama’il Abdussami’u accused to have used a knife to stab to death one Bala Musa.
The ruling was delivered on Tuesday, according to a statement on Thursday by the Public Relations Officer, Jigawa State Ministry of Justice, Zainab Baba Santali.
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“The fact of the case was that, the defendant on 18th November 2015 was reported to have had a fight with the deceased at Unguwar Jibrin village Kaugama local government.
“During the fight, the defendant took a knife and stabbed the deceased on the left upper side of his chest, which resulted to his death.
“The defendant was arrested and charged to court for the offence of Culpable Homicide punishable with death under section section 221 (b) of the Penal Code Cap p3 laws of Jigawa State.
“The prosecution called five witnesses and tendered exhibits which were the confessional statement of the defendant at police divisional station, medical certificate, and confessional statement of the defendant at state CID.
“While the defendant testified in his defence that he used the knife against the deceased for self defense. In his confessional statement the defendant confessed to the allegation.
“The defendant admitted under cross examination that the deceased died as a result of him (the defendant) stabbing the deceased with a knife.
“More so, in the confessional statement, the defendant stated that the deceased picked firewood to beat him, but before he hit him, he (the defendant) used his knife and stabbed the deceased on the upper left side of his chest.”
According to the statement, the presiding judge found that the prosecution ought to have charged the defendant with culpable homicide not punishable with death under section 224 of the penal code, considering the fact that the defendant did not cause the death of the deceased intentionally. And it was the deceased who started or caused the fight.
“His Lordship added that the court found that oral testimony of the defendant in open court is more reliable than the voluntary extra judicial statement of the defendant as such the court rejected the confessional statement of the defendant and thereby discharged and acquitted the defendant on the ground of self defence,” the statement said.
