M. BELLO, J.S.C (Delivering the Leading Judgment): The principal question for determination in this appeal is whether from the circumstances of the case the Court of Appeal was right in ordering a retrial of the Appellants after that court had declared their trial in the High Court a nullity. The Appellants were convicted in the High Court of Bendel State, sitting at Warri, on a charge of murder and were sentenced to death.
The only point taken at the hearing of their appeal against conviction in the Court of Appeal was that their trial was a nullity because no plea of the Appellants was taken at the trial. The learned Principal State Counsel, who appeared for the Respondent in that Court, conceded the point but urged that court to order a retrial.
In its summary judgment, the Court of Appeal states:
"We are in agreement with the views expressed by Mr Okungbowa, Principal State Counsel. There is no record of any plea taken. The trial was a complete nullity. There is therefore nothing …