SANYAOLU
V.
THE STATE
A. FATAYI-WILLIAMS, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): The Accused, now Appellant, was originally charged in the High Court of Kano State sitting at Kano with culpable homicide not punishable with death. After considering the evidence adduced by the Prosecution and the defence put forward by the Accused, the learned trial judge accepted the case for the Prosecution and rejected the defence put forward by the Accused. He, however, found him not guilty of the offence of culpable homicide not punishable with death but guilty of a lesser offence of causing death when the intention was to cause hurt or grievous hurt only. This lesser offence is punishable under section 225 of the Penal Code. The finding of the learned trial judge in this respect reads:-
I am aware of the fact that the Accused has not been charged with section 225 of the Penal Code. Section 217 of the Criminal Procedure Code empowers a court to convict an Accused of an offence proved even though the Accused was not o…