IROMANTU V. THE STATE

• Pages: 228-229

228

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NIGERIAN SUPREME COURT CASES

[1964] N.S.C.C.

IROMANTU V. THE STATE

5

UBOCHI IROMANTU

V

THE STATE

SUPREME COURT OF NIGERIA

BRETT,

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J.S.C.

ONYEAMA,

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J.S.C.

AJEGBO,

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J.S.C.

23rd October, 1964.

APPELLANT

RESPONDENT

SUIT NO. FSC 223/1964

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Legislation - Criminal Code, s.24 (first paragraph)

Criminal Law - Homicide - Accidental killing.

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ISSUE:

1. Can a defendant who accidentally fires a gun be acquitted of manslaughter

under s.24 of the Criminal Code?

FACTS:

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The defendant fired his gun in the dusk and killed the deceased. He was tried

for murder. His defence was that the deceased gripped the gun and he, in at-

tempting to recover it, accidentally touched the trigger. The person who, in the

judge's view, was the best witness, and who was in the defendant's company, said

he did not see the defendant aim a shot. The trial judge found that the defendant

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had fired voluntarily and convicted him of manslaughter because he was young

and had not handled a gun before. The defendant appealed.

HELD:

The evidence did not prove that the firing was voluntary or that the circumstan-

ces disclosed a reckless disregard for the lives of others, and by virtue of s.24 of

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the Criminal Code the defendant was not criminally responsible for the killing.

[As to

Accidental Killing,

see 11 HALSBURY'S LAWS 4th Edition 628 para.

1174.]

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Appellant absent and unrepresented.

E.0

Nwokedi, D.P.P.,

East

for the respondent.

AJEGBO, J.S.C.

(Delivering the Judgment of the Court): On the 24th September,

1964, we granted the applicant leave to appeal against his conviction by the High

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Court of Eastern Nigeria holden at Umuahia and treated the application as appeal,

allowed the appeal and said we would give our reasons later. We now do so.

The appellant was charged with the murder of one Patrick Ezigbo and con-

victed of manslaughter and sentenced to twelve years imprisonment. Against the

conviction and sentence he has appealed to this Court.

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Summarised, the case for the prosecution was that the appellant fired at the de-

ceased during the Ekpe Festival in his village and killed him. The defence, on the

other hand, was that the accused, armed with a gun and in company of

Iheukwurnere Ahidigbe was returning to his home at dusk from an Ekpe festival