UWAIS, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): The appellants were charged in the High Court of Benue State holden at Makurdi and convicted of culpable homicide punishable with death contrary to section 221 (a) read with section 79 of the Penal Code.
The facts of the case are briefly as follows. The family of the deceased had a farm where they grew crops. The appellants' family had goats which used to go on the farm to destroy the crops. In the morning of the day material to this case that is on 15th December, 1990,.the goats went on to the farm and the deceased killed one of them .. The father of the appellants (D.W.1) complained to the elder brother of the deceased (P.W.3) about the incident making the point that the deceased had so far killed 6 goats belonging to him (D.W.1). Later in the day, the mother of the deceased (P. W.1) went to a meeting of an association of women called Better Life for Rural Women. She was returning home in the evening when she came across the appellant…