A High Court sitting in Lokoja presided over by Justice Josiah Majebi has sentenced a metal fabricator/welder, Muritala Dare, to death by hanging for stabbing a carpenter, Lukman Karim to death with a broken bottle.
Justice Majebi found the accused guilty after considering his involvement in an incident that occurred on 16th August 2021 on the popular Lugard road in the Lokoja metropolis
Muritala Dare was charged for Culpable Homicide punishable with death under Section 221 (a) and (b) of the Kogi State Penal Code just as he “caused the death of one Lukman Karim by doing an act to wit, stabbing him on the neck and hand with a broken bottle to cause his death
To prove the commission of the offense, the prosecutor called three witnesses and tendered seven exhibits which included the defendant’s confessional statement, a Coroners Ordinance (Chapter) Report of Medical Practitioners, and a Nigeria Police Post Mortem Examination report dated 19th August 2020.
While giving evidence, the principal witness, of the Quick Response Unit of the Kogi State Police Command, said the defendant was apprehended from his hideout after committing the crime, while the deceased who died at the scene of the incident was confirmed dead at the Specialist Hospital, Lokoja.
Upon examination of the evidence presented before the court and particularly relying on the confessional statement made by the defendant, Justice Majebi averred that “a confession is an admission at any time by a person charged with a crime stating or suggesting that he committed the crime”.
Elaborating further, he said there were sufficient reasons to conclude that the evidence contained in the statements made by the defendant were convincing enough even outside his confessional statement.
He, therefore, concluded that all these essential ingredients were already manifest in the matter and supported by other evidence.
In conclusion, his lordship found Defendant guilty of the charge of Culpable Homicide against him and convicts him accordingly.
