A. FATAYI-WILLIAMS, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): On 24th July, 1975, the accused persons were jointly tried and convicted in the High Court of Bendel State, sitting at Ubiaja, for the murder of one Izevbigie Agbon and sentenced to death. They have now appealed against the conviction.
The facts on which their conviction was based may be summarised as follows: The people of Ekpon near Ubiaja and the people of Mbiri near Agbor, both in Bendel State, had a boundary dispute. Following the dispute, the two groups fought each other in a place known as Ekpon bush on 29th April, 1974. Samson Erabor (2nd P.W.), who is an Ekpon man, said that the number of Mbiri people who joined in the fight was about forty and that they went to each of the Ekpon people in their different farms and attacked them there. He said the Ekpon people did not fight back. Augustine Egbumokei (P.W.10) the Assistant Inspector of Police from the State C.I.D., Benin City, who led the team of detectives who went…