TOBI, JSC (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This is yet another murder appeal. Like most murder cases, the facts are pathetic, traumatic, and revealing not necessarily because human life was taken but because of the circumstances and the way it was taken.
Let me briefly tell the story as accepted by the learned trial Judge. Sabuwa Muhammed was the deceased. PW1, Gambo Muhammed, was the granddaughter of the deceased. She was 14 years old at the time of the incident. She gave evidence as an eyewitness. This is what she said in examination-in-chief.
She saw the appellant running towards her, her grandmother (the deceased) and one Abba. The appellant asked the deceased to stop and she stopped. He further instructed the deceased to go back to Gidan Gamji village but the deceased refused; telling the appellant that she did not leave anything there to collect and that she would not go back.
The appellant performed his mission. He cut the deceased on her hand with a machete. Not satisfied,…