D. A. R. ALEXANDER, C.J.N. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): The appellant was charged on information with murder contrary to Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code, the particulars of the offence being that he murdered Monica Okeke on or about the 13th of April, 1971, at Obaoji Oba in the Onitsha Judicial Division.
The trial proceeded in the High Court in the Onitsha Judicial Division of the former East-Central State. The evidence in support of the case for the prosecution was as follows. The appellant and P.W. 3, Benedetta Okeke, the mother of the victim, Monica Okeke, had a sexual relationship in the course of which Monica Okeke was born. This child was, however, claimed as his own by P.W.3's husband, Ayino Okeke, P.W.10, who was both blind and unwell, and condoned the relationship between the appellant and his wife, P.W.3.
P.W.3 refused to have sexual intercourse with the appellant, excusing herself on the ground that the child was only eight months old, and persisted in her refusal…