EJEMBI EKO, J.C.A. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): On 15th July, 1999 the Appellant was convicted for murder and sentenced to death by the High Court of Rivers State in the charge No. PHC/3c/96. The appeal is against the said conviction.
The appeal is predicated on only one issue, to wit:
Having regard to the intrinsic and divergent evidence produced by the prosecution on the immediate facts of this case, was the charge of murder proved against the Appellant beyond reasonable doubt as required by law?
In the preamble it is submitted by the Appellant's counsel in the amended brief of argument filed on 1st February, 2011, but deemed filed and served on 25th June, 2012, that the onus is, at all times, on the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused person beyond reasonable doubt. This burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt in criminal prosecution is, as acknowledged by the Supreme Court in EMEKA MBENU v. THE STATE (1988) 3 N.W.L.R. (Pt. 84) 615, not Synonymous with proof beyond …