OKEGBU
V.
THE STATE

(1979) JELR 49372 (SC)

Supreme Court · SC.9/1977 · 9 Nov 1979 · Nigeria
·

Other Citations

Okegbu v. State (1979) 11 S.C. 1 (1979) All N.L.R 200

CORAM

AYO GABRIEL IRIKEFE JSC KAYODE ESO JSC CHUKWUNWEIKE IDIGBE JSC ANTHONY NNAEMEZIE ANIAGOLU JSC MOHAMMED BELLO JSC

Ratio Decidendi

Core Terms ^Beta

court

charge

case

section

trial

provisions of section

criminal procedure law

trial court

court of appeal

first amendment

accused person

miscarriage of justice

set aside

such alteration

federal court of appeal decree

laws of eastern nigeria

new charge

federal supreme court

oriaku ojioma

such charge

amended form

case of the prosecution

commencement of the trial

following words

ground of a wrong decision

mandatory provisions of sections

name of the murdered person

purported amendment

above section

case of the first amendment

course of this address

court finds

criminal appeal act

criminal code

evidence of p.w.9

first time

further amendment of the charge

high court of the east central state of nigeria

judgment of the learned trial judge

last-minute application

leading judgment

learned prosecuting counsel

number of grounds

peculiar circumstances of a given case

proceedings null

purpose of this final appeal

s.163 of the criminal procedure law

said section

short point

transcript of evidence

A. G. IRIKEFE, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): The Appellant herein was charged under Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code (Cap. 30 - Laws of Eastern Nigeria) with having, on the 8th day of November, 1974 at Mata Obofia Awgu, in the Enugu Judicial Division, murdered one Oriaku Ojioma, alias Oriaku Ojioma Obu alias Oriaku Oji. He was tried by Okagbue, J. (as he then was) in the High Court of the East Central State of Nigeria and at the end thereof was convicted and sentenced to death. He then appealed unsuccessfully to the Court of Appeal against his conviction on a number of grounds, none of which is relevant for the purpose of this final appeal.

The short point raised in this appeal is whether, as contended for the appellant for the first time in this court, his trial is rendered null and void on the ground of non-compliance with Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Law (Cap. 31- Laws of Eastern Nigeria).

The non-compliance relied upon came about when the charge on which th…

OKEGBU V. THE STATE

OKEGBU
V.
THE STATE