A. FATAYI-WILLIAMS, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): In the Magistrate's Court at Calabar, the appellant, a housewife and a teacher, was convicted of the offence of unlawfully assaulting one Stella Mbukpa, another housewife by spitting on her face. According to section 351 of the Criminal Code of the South-Eastern State under which she was charged, the offence is a misdemeanour and an offender is liable, if convicted, to imprisonment for one year.
After considering the evidence and stating that the prosecutions have proved their case to his satisfaction, the learned Chief Magistrate found the appellant guilty of the offence and accordingly convicted her. Thereafter, the learned Chief Magistrate, after hearing the plea of the learned counsel for the appellant in mitigation, and in substitution for a sentence of imprisonment or a fine, apparently exercised the powers conferred upon him by section 300 of the Criminal Procedure Law (Cap, 31) of the Laws of the East-Central State …