The High Court of Anambra State, Awka Judicial Division, has sentenced one Silas Uwa to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of manslaughter over the killing of his uncle during a dispute over family land in Ebenebe, Awka North Local Government Area of the state.
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Justice Okechukwu Nwabunike delivered the judgment on Monday in Suit No. A/63C/2018, holding that the prosecution had established through credible circumstantial evidence that Uwa was responsible for the death of his uncle despite the absence of a direct eyewitness to the killing.
The case arose from a dispute over the ownership of a parcel of land in Ebenebe. According to the prosecution, the kindred had earlier resolved the dispute in favour of the deceased, but Uwa and his siblings rejected the decision.
The prosecution told the court that rather than challenge the decision through appropriate legal proceedings, Uwa confronted his uncle while the deceased was working on the disputed farmland.
A fight reportedly ensued, during which Uwa attacked his uncle with a machete and inflicted injuries that led to his death.
The prosecution, led by Chief State Counsel Ifeanyi Oguejiofor, alongside Principal State Counsel Mrs Ijeoma Ugboaja, called four witnesses, including the Investigating Police Officer, in an effort to prove the charge against the defendant.
Uwa, however, raised the defence of self-defence and contended that the prosecution had failed to establish murder beyond reasonable doubt. His defence also relied on the fact that there was no eyewitness who directly saw the killing take place.
Justice Nwabunike rejected that argument, explaining that the absence of an eyewitness was not necessarily fatal to the prosecution’s case.
The judge held that murder or unlawful killing could be established through direct eyewitness testimony, a confessional statement or credible circumstantial evidence linking an accused person to the offence.
According to the court, the evidence placed before it sufficiently connected Uwa to the killing of his uncle and displaced his claim of self-defence.
“The court further held that notwithstanding the absence of direct eyewitness evidence, the prosecution proved through credible circumstantial evidence that the defendant killed the deceased,” the court held.
Justice Nwabunike also ruled that the circumstances surrounding the incident did not support Uwa’s plea of self-defence.
“The plea of self-defence did not avail the defendant in the circumstances. Therefore, he was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to life imprisonment,” the court held.
Although the prosecution had proceeded against Uwa over the killing, the court convicted him of the lesser offence of manslaughter and consequently sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Reacting to the judgment, the Secretary of the Law Officers Association of Nigeria, Anambra State Chapter, Nonso Emeka, said the case reinforced the need for persons involved in land disputes to seek remedies through the courts rather than resort to violence or self-help.
Emeka said the judgment was in line with the directive of the Anambra State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Tobechukwu Nweke, SAN, that disputes over ownership of land should ordinarily be resolved through appropriate civil proceedings, including actions for declaration of title.
He cautioned that parties to land disputes should not resort to force or attempt to criminalise what are essentially civil claims, stressing that the courts remain the proper forum for determining competing claims to ownership of property.
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