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97 judgments found.
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October 2015
Application for stay of execution dismissed for applicant's non-appearance; costs awarded to the respondent.
Civil procedure — Stay of execution — application dismissed for non-appearance
28 October 2015
Court of Appeal declined to grant a restraining injunction and refused a stay of execution for lack of jurisdiction and irreparable harm.
Civil procedure
— Court of Appeal lacks power to grant such restraining orders on appeal — stay of execution suspends unexecuted judgment
— interim relief on appeal — temporary injunctions (Order XXXVII, R.1 CPC) preserve status quo and are for trial courts
26 October 2015
Failure to inform accused of judge transfer and complete change of assessors vitiated the trial; conviction quashed and retrial ordered.
Trial procedure
— change of magistrate during trial — Transfer of judge and duty to inform accused under s.299(1) CPA — Right to a fair hearing
— Assessors — Complete change of assessors so none heard the whole evidence renders trial null — CPA ss.265, 286, 287
— summing up to assessors — Judicial expression of views and emphasis on a witness misdirects assessors and vitiates trial
26 October 2015
Alleged illegality in a High Court ruling can justify extension of time to apply for revision despite some delay.
Civil procedure
— extension of time — Good cause required
— factors: promptness, diligence, explanation for delay, special circumstances (illegality) — Allegation that High Court ruling both struck out and dismissed, and may have been decided without hearing, can constitute sufficient reason for extension
22 October 2015
19 October 2015
Allowing assessors to cross‑examine witnesses breaches impartiality and vitiates the trial, necessitating retrial.
Natural justice — rule against bias — assessors’ cross-examination causes bias and vitiates trial — Appellate Jurisdiction Act s.4(3), Constitution Art.13(6)(a), Evidence Act s.146(2), Criminal Procedure Act s.250
Trial procedure — Assessors — Whether assessors may cross-examine witnesses — Evidence Act s.177
16 October 2015
The Court held it cannot use suo motu revisional powers to resolve its own conflicting decisions; such conflicts must be decided on appeal.
Appellate practice — Appellate jurisdiction — scope of s.4(3) AJA
— Court of Appeal cannot revise its own decisions
— revisional powers apply to High Court proceedings only
Civil procedure — Procedure — resolution of conflicting Court of Appeal decisions — requires appeals/full bench, not suo motu revision/review
Labour law — Labour law appeals — whether leave is required from High Court (Labour Division) to Court of Appeal (conflicting authorities left unresolved)
16 October 2015
The Court cannot resolve conflicts in its own decisions by suo motu revision and struck out the proceedings.
Appellate practice
— Appellate jurisdiction act s.4(3) — scope limited to calling and revising High Court records
— Appellate procedure — Labour Court appeals — whether leave required
— Conflicting Court of Appeal decisions — to be resolved by full bench on appeal, not by review/revision
16 October 2015
Possession of a government trophy remains an economic offence; only Parliament can remove it from the EOCCA First Schedule.
Criminal law — Economic offences — Whether unlawful possession of Government Trophy — Section 57(1) and (2) of the Economic and Organized Crimes Control Act
15 October 2015
Possession of government trophy is an economic offence; only an Act of Parliament or a DPP certificate can alter trial jurisdiction.
Criminal law — Economic offences — Whether unlawful possession of Government Trophy
Criminal procedure — Jurisdiction — requirement of DPP’s consent and certificate under the Economic and Organized Crimes Control Act for subordinate court trials of economic offences
Wildlife offences
— Economic and Organized Crimes Control Act ss3,57
— Unlawful possession of government trophies
15 October 2015
15 October 2015
Judge concurs with conviction but dissents from death sentence, finding capital punishment unconstitutional and life imprisonment preferable.
Criminal law
— Alternative sentencing — life imprisonment preferred
— Death penalty — constitutionality, irreversibility, risk of wrongful execution
— Murder — guilt established by confessions, eyewitness testimony and recovered property
15 October 2015
Application for extension of time struck out because a notice of appeal was already pending and Rule 47 requires starting in the High Court.
Civil procedure — competence of application for extension of time to file notice of appeal — pending notice of appeal on record — notice of withdrawal not effective until granted by court
15 October 2015
Convictions quashed where lack of interpreter and unsafe night-time identification rendered the prosecution case unreliable.
Criminal law — Interpreter — obligation
Criminal law — Recent possession
— Conviction unsafe where identification and possession links are defective
— limits where exhibits belong to a third party and are not positively identified
Criminal law — Visual identification — need to state source and quality of light
15 October 2015
Failure to direct assessors on circumstantial evidence vitiated the trial; proceedings quashed and retrial ordered.
Criminal law — Circumstantial evidence — Duty to direct assessors on legal conditions for reliance on circumstantial evidence
15 October 2015
Failure to serve the notice and to copy the application for proceedings rendered the appeal time-barred; notice struck out.
Civil procedure
— Appeal time limits — Whether Rule 90(2) requirement to serve copy of application for proceedings allows reliance on Registrar’s certificate of delay
— Service of Notice of Appeal — Whether the appeal should be struck out for failure to serve the notice of appeal within the prescribed time
Evidence — uncontroverted affidavit — Unchallenged affidavit to be taken as establishing alleged facts
15 October 2015
Torchlight identification unsafe for two appellants; third appellant’s recognition and statements sustained conviction.
Criminal law — admissibility of extra-judicial and cautioned statements
— sufficiency of corroborative evidence (recovery/abandonment of stolen property)
— voluntariness and applicability of sections 50, 57 and 58 Criminal Procedure Act
Criminal law — Visual identification
15 October 2015
Torchlight identification insufficient for two appellants; third appellant’s ID and statements properly admitted and conviction upheld.
Criminal law — visual identification by torchlight — Requirement to establish lighting intensity, duration and witness position to exclude mistaken identity
Criminal procedure — cautioned and extra‑judicial statements — inquiry/trial within trial required where voluntariness is challenged — Criminal Procedure Act ss 50, 57(2) and 58
15 October 2015
Appeal allowed where night-time moonlight identification and witness inconsistencies made the conviction unsafe.
Criminal law — Visual identification
— recognition by moonlight
— witness inconsistencies and contradictory accounts can render identification unsafe and justify quashing conviction
15 October 2015
Conviction quashed where night-time identification by moonlight and witness inconsistencies rendered prosecution case unsafe.
Criminal law
— Criminal appeals — appellate reassessment of identification and credibility where record undermines reliability
— Visual identification — identification
Evidence — Witness credibility
15 October 2015
Convictions quashed where prosecution failed to prove lack of ownership and omitted crucial local evidence.
Criminal law — obtaining money by false pretence — burden to prove false pretence includes proving lack of title — minor contradictions in witness statements not necessarily fatal
15 October 2015
Delay in reporting, possible fabrication and expunged key exhibits raised reasonable doubt, leading to quashing of convictions.
Criminal law
— reasonable doubt
— sexual offences — Whether evidence of child victim alone suffices where PF3 and cautioned statement were expunged — credibility and delay in reporting
Criminal procedure — Appellate review of concurrent findings — interference where misdirections or failure to address probative doubts
Evidence — competence of child witness — voir dire omissions and effect on admissibility/competence
15 October 2015
Conviction quashed where delayed report, expelled evidence and possible fabrication created reasonable doubt.
Criminal law — Evidence
— alibi and s.194 CPC considerations
— delay in reporting and possible motive to fabricate
— PF.3 and cautioned statement wrongly admitted and expunged
— reliance on single child witness
— voir dire and competency of child witness
Criminal law — Rape and impregnating a schoolgirl
15 October 2015
Breaks in police chain of custody of seized drugs that create reasonable doubt defeat conviction despite reliable laboratory analysis.
Criminal law — Narcotics
— admissibility and probative value of Government Chemist’s report where police custody gaps exist
— Chain of custody
— Police procedure
15 October 2015
Broken and undocumented chain of custody of seized narcotics created reasonable doubt, leading to quashed conviction.
Criminal law — Evidence
— chain of custody and certificate of seizure — Failure to call transfer custodians and absence of documentation undermines prosecution case
— chain of custody of exhibits — Proper labelling, registration and custody (Police General Orders 229)
Criminal law — forensic evidence — Reliability of laboratory analysis versus integrity of sample — Laboratory confirmation insufficient where chain is broken
15 October 2015
Court of Appeal remitted interlocutory land-share dispute to High Court, finding no legal basis for referral to the Court of Appeal.
Civil procedure
— interlocutory referral to Court of Appeal — no statutory basis for referring an interlocutory High Court matter to the Court of Appeal
— Judicial administration — perceived anomalies in prior judgments should be raised administratively with the Chief Justice rather than by staying proceedings and seeking advisory directions from the Court of Appeal
— Remittal — case remitted to High Court to proceed from its interlocutory stage and be given priority
Evidence — Evidence and precedent — prior appellate judgment cannot be treated as determinative where parties and causes of action differ
13 October 2015
Court held interlocutory referral to the Court of Appeal was improper and remitted the matter to the High Court for continuation.
Appeal procedure; interlocutory referral to Court of Appeal; jurisdictional limits on referrals; distinction between ownership and entitlement claims; remittal to High Court and prioritisation of long-standing family disputes.
13 October 2015
Whether an interlocutory referral to the Court of Appeal was proper absent any legal provision.
Civil procedure
— interlocutory referral to Court of Appeal — Whether an interlocutory referral to the Court of Appeal is proper where no legal provision exists
— Identity of parties — Distinction between entitlement to shares and prior ownership determination in an earlier appeal
— Remittal — Remittal of proceedings — Remittal to High Court to proceed in accordance with law
13 October 2015
The judge upheld the murder conviction but rejected the death penalty as unconstitutional and preferred life imprisonment.
Criminal law
— Murder — Credibility of eyewitnesses — Eyewitness testimony of family members regarded as decisive
— sentencing — Death penalty — Held inherently inhuman, degrading and constitutionally objectionable
13 October 2015
Appeal rejecting challenges to postmortem admissibility and witnesses’ language; murder conviction and death sentence upheld.
Criminal law
— appellate review — deference to trial court credibility findings
— Evidence — admissibility of medical — notice by committal record and right to summon author
— Murder — proof of malice aforethought from use of a lethal weapon and failure to seek medical aid
13 October 2015
Judge concurs in guilt but dissents from death sentence, citing unconstitutionality and risk of irreversible error.
Criminal law — Murder — Evidence of eyewitnesses — Sentence
— constitutionality, irrevocability and risk of wrongful conviction
— Death penalty
— preference for life imprisonment
13 October 2015
An application citing the enabling rule remains valid despite omitting Rule 48 if procedural requirements are substantially met.
Civil procedure — Notice of motion — Non‑citation renders application incompetent
13 October 2015
Court upheld murder convictions, finding confessions and taxi driver's evidence credible and corroborated by seized property.
Criminal law — Murder — identification evidence — Dock identification and identification parade requirements
Evidence
— Cautioned/confessional statements — voluntariness, admissibility and need for corroboration — Voluntariness, admissibility and time limits under s.50/51 CPA
— Witness credibility — Credibility of eyewitnesses — Eye‑witness (taxi driver) credibility and corroboration with seized property
13 October 2015
Reported
Judge agreed with murder conviction but deemed the death penalty unconstitutional, favouring life imprisonment.
Criminal law
— Murder — Death sentence — Constitutionality and human-rights objections to the death penalty
— sentencing — irreversibility and risk of wrongful execution — Preferability of life imprisonment as alternative
13 October 2015
Confessions corroborated by recovered property and a credible eyewitness supported upholding convictions and death sentences.
Criminal law
— identification — dock identification without parade — weak, but may be supplemented by corroborative evidence and confessions
— Murder — Sufficiency of evidence — eyewitness account, possession of deceased's property and confessional statements as corroboration
Evidence — cautioned statements
Evidence — extra-judicial statements before a Justice of the Peace
— no strict statutory time limit
— voluntariness and truth required
13 October 2015
Convictions affirmed on strong evidence; dissent held death penalty unconstitutional and life imprisonment preferable.
Criminal law
— Death sentence — Constitutionality, inhuman and degrading nature and irreversible risk of wrongful execution — Constitution Article 14
— Murder — guilt established by confessions, eyewitness testimony and recovered property
13 October 2015
An application to amend an appeal memorandum under Rule 111 may be made at any time; the sixty‑day limit does not apply.
Civil procedure — Amendment of memorandum of appeal — sixty‑days rule not applicable
— amended memorandum to be filed within seven days
— costs in the cause
— leave to amend granted
13 October 2015
Appeal struck out where Notice served late and application for copy was not served as required, rendering appeal time-barred.
Civil procedure — Court of Appeal — Civil procedure — Service of Notice of Appeal
13 October 2015
Change of trial magistrate without recorded reasons vitiated subsequent proceedings; appeal court quashed and ordered trial resumed.
Appellate practice — Appellate jurisdiction — Exercise of revisional powers under section 4(2) AJA to quash affected proceedings and order resumption of trial
Civil procedure — remedy — Quashing of proceedings, resumption from point of interruption, deduction of custody time
Criminal procedure — Change of magistrate — non-compliance vitiates successor’s jurisdiction and renders proceedings a nullity
13 October 2015
Change of magistrate without recorded reasons renders subsequent proceedings a nullity; retrial ordered and remand time deductible.
Criminal procedure — Change of magistrate
13 October 2015
Judge dissented to the death sentence, holding capital punishment unconstitutional and life imprisonment preferable.
Criminal law — sentencing
— Death penalty — Article 13(6)(c) & (d)
— irreversibility and risk of wrongful execution — Life imprisonment as alternative
13 October 2015
Appellate court upheld murder conviction based on credible eyewitnesses and malice aforethought proven by head blows and concealment.
Criminal law — Murder
— admissibility and probative value of exhibits found with the body
— appellate re‑evaluation of demeanour, coherence and consistency of testimony
— evaluation of eyewitness credibility (spouse and children) on first appeal
— immaterial misdirection not warranting reversal
— malice aforethought inferred from use of an instrument directed at the head and concealment of the body
13 October 2015
Conviction for murder upheld; judge dissents against the death penalty as unconstitutional and irreversible, preferring life imprisonment.
Criminal law — Murder — Sentencing — Death penalty — Constitutionality and whether inherently inhuman and degrading
Criminal procedure — Appellate review and finality — Irreversibility of execution and risk of wrongful conviction — Consideration of life imprisonment as alternative
13 October 2015
Non-compliance with section 214(1) CPA—successor magistrate’s unexplained takeover renders proceedings null and mandates retrial.
Criminal procedure — Section 214 Criminal Procedure Act — Successor magistrate must state reasons for taking over a trial — Failure to state reasons renders subsequent proceedings and judgment a nullity — Revisional powers to quash proceedings and order retrial; credit for time served.
12 October 2015
Custodial status alone did not establish good cause for a five‑year delay or an arguable ground for review; application dismissed.
Civil procedure
— extension of time — Applicant in custody — custodial status and reliance on prison officers do not automatically constitute good cause for delay
— Review — review permitted only for manifest error on the face of the record, deprivation of hearing, nullity, lack of jurisdiction, or judgment procured illegally/fraudulently. Application for extension to file review requires both good cause for delay and an argu
12 October 2015
Victim identification upheld; improperly admitted cautioned and extra‑judicial statements expunged; appeal dismissed.
Criminal law
— Delay in delivering judgment — administrative fault but does not automatically invalidate judgment
— identification evidence — Waziri Amani criteria: source/intensity of light, duration of observation, distance and prior acquaintance — visual identification — Admissibility of confessions/statements
12 October 2015
Combining extension of time and stay of execution rendered the application incompetent; such relief must first be sought in the High Court.
Civil procedure — Court of appeal procedure — Competency of applications — Improper combination of extension of time (single Justice) and stay of execution (Full Court)
12 October 2015
Combining extension of time with stay of execution rendered the application incompetent; extension must first be filed in the High Court.
Civil procedure
— Appellate Jurisdiction Act s.11(1) — concurrent jurisdiction
— Court of appeal procedure — Competence of applications — improper combination of extension of time and stay of execution
— struck out versus dismissed — effect on right to proceed to Court of Appeal
12 October 2015
The appellant's defences of insanity and provocation failed; murder conviction and death sentence upheld.
Criminal law — Defence of insanity — timing of raising the defence at plea-taking
Criminal law — Murder — Elements proved by eyewitness and post-mortem evidence
Criminal law — Provocation
— objective test and premeditation/ concealment of weapon negating loss of self-control
— Role of assessors in confirming intent
12 October 2015
Failure to read cautioned statements and misdirection of assessors nullified the trial; retrial ordered.
Criminal law — Cautioned statement — reading/confirmation requirement — admissibility and requirement to conduct inquiry when objection is raised
Criminal procedure
— Retrial — Retrial principles (Fatehali Manji)
— trials with assessors — duty of trial judges to sum up to assessors on facts and all vital points of law — duty to direct assessors on essential points including ingredients of offence, common intention, circumstantial evidence, alibi and cautioned/confessional evidence
12 October 2015