An FCT High Court, Maitama on Monday discharged and acquitted a 26-year -old woman, Sarah Ogah, charged with murdering her boyfriend, Friday Shehu.
The prosecution had on April 12, 2013, arraigned Sarah on one count of charge of culpable homicide.
Delivering judgment, Justice Peter Affen discharged Ogah for lack of diligent prosecution.
Okeke held that the prosecution failed to prove his case beyond all reasonable doubts, saying that the two prosecution witnesses were not present at the scene of the alleged crime.
He held that their testimonies and evidence had no bearing on the case, saying their evidence was not in relation to what they saw with their own eyes.
The judge said their evidence as to how the deceased met his death or what directly caused it was controvertible and not admissible under section 126 (a) of the Evidence Act, 2011 to prove the cause of the death of the deceased.
He held that the only direct evidence as to what caused the death of the deceased was the evidence of defendant herself in her evidence.
Okeke held that defendant’s evidence was the only eyewitness account of what transpired between the two parties.
He added that the prosecution did not lead any evidence to successfully contradict this, saying that his attempt to do so was resisted by the defendant who was resolute in her answers.
The defendant consistently held that her late boyfriend “was armed and wanted to harm her and she took off the kitchen knife to scare him away”.
The judge held that by the foregoing available evidence in respect of what caused the fight and how it took place it is evident in the court that the refusal by a lady to marry a man or pack one’s belongings should be a cause for a fight.
“The deceased holding a cutlass and screwdriver with a threat to kill her and approaching her in their room so armed, it is reasonable that the defendant had a reasonable apprehension of peril or danger to her life or great bodily harm.
“In the circumstance, given that the incident occurred in their room with no one present, she cannot be said to have a reasonable mode of escape.
“By the reasons of the foregoing findings, the defendant had been able to make out a case for self-defence, with no evidence by the prosecution to contradict this,” the judge said.
Okeke held that as a result, “the defendant cannot be found to be guilty of culpable homicide as charged.
“In the circumstance, the defendant is discharged and acquitted,” he held.
