The Supreme Court has affirmed the conviction and death sentence imposed on Abu Umar for stabbing Abdulkadir Abubakar to death during a fight in Tafa Town, Niger State.
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A five-member panel of the apex court unanimously dismissed Umar’s appeal after holding that the prosecution proved the charge of culpable homicide punishable with death beyond reasonable doubt.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Jummai-Hannatu Sankey, the Supreme Court affirmed the July 22, 2020 judgment of the Court of Appeal in Kaduna, which had upheld Umar’s conviction and sentence by the Kaduna State High Court.
The Supreme Court delivered its judgment on April 17, 2026, but the Certified True Copy was made available to journalists on Monday in Abuja.
The case, marked SC/CR/499/2022, arose from an incident that occurred on June 25, 2015, during which Umar stabbed Abubakar on the right side of his chest with a knife during a fight.
Abubakar was taken to the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Hospital in Sabon Wuse, Niger State, but died about one hour and 30 minutes after he was admitted.
Umar was arrested at the scene and initially taken to the police station in Tafa. Following preliminary investigations, the case was transferred to the Anti-Homicide Section of the Kaduna State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.
Upon the completion of the investigation, the Kaduna State Government filed a one-count charge of culpable homicide punishable with death against Umar under Section 221(b) of the Penal Code Law of Kaduna State.
He was formally charged before the Kaduna State High Court on February 29, 2016, in charge number KDH/KAD/29C/2016 and subsequently arraigned before Justice G.I. Kurada.
During the trial, the prosecution called three witnesses and tendered three exhibits, including the knife allegedly used by Umar to stab Abubakar.
After the prosecution closed its case, Umar exercised his right to rest his defence on the evidence presented by the prosecution. He did not testify, call any witness or tender any evidence in his defence.
Justice Kurada, after reviewing the evidence presented before the court, found Umar guilty of culpable homicide and sentenced him to death on December 14, 2017.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, Umar filed a notice of appeal on January 23, 2018, asking the Court of Appeal in Kaduna to set aside his conviction.
However, the appellate court dismissed his appeal in a unanimous judgment delivered on July 22, 2020, and affirmed the decision of the trial court.
Umar subsequently approached the Supreme Court through his lawyer, Umar Galadima, filing his notice of appeal on August 19, 2020.
In his brief of argument, Galadima submitted a single issue for determination—whether the Court of Appeal was wrong to affirm the trial court’s decision that the prosecution proved the charge beyond reasonable doubt.
Kaduna State, through its counsel, Emmanuel Ekpenyong, argued that the evidence presented by the prosecution established all the essential elements of the offence.
Ekpenyong, who was granted a fiat by the Kaduna State Attorney-General to represent the prosecution, urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the concurrent findings of the two lower courts.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Sankey agreed with the submissions made on behalf of the state.
She held that the accounts given by the prosecution witnesses, together with Umar’s extrajudicial confessional statement admitted as Exhibit 1, established the essential ingredients of culpable homicide punishable with death.
The court held that the prosecution successfully established that Abubakar died, that Umar’s act caused the death and that the act was done with the required intention or knowledge to sustain the charge.
Umar had argued that the prosecution’s failure to tender a medical report establishing the cause of Abubakar’s death was fatal to its case.
The Supreme Court rejected the argument, holding that medical evidence is not indispensable where the victim dies immediately or within a short period after the attack and the cause of death can be clearly connected to the accused person’s act.
Justice Sankey noted that Abubakar died only one hour and 30 minutes after being admitted to the hospital following the stabbing.
She held that, under those circumstances, medical evidence was no longer of paramount importance because the connection between the knife injury and the victim’s death had been sufficiently established by other evidence.
The apex court also criticised Umar’s decision to rest his defence on the prosecution’s case despite the weight of evidence presented against him.
Justice Sankey observed that Umar was represented by counsel throughout the proceedings but was poorly advised to rely on evidence that had substantially established his guilt.
The court held that his decision not to challenge the prosecution’s case by presenting evidence amounted to a constructive admission of the allegations established against him.
According to the court, the prosecution discharged the burden placed on it by law, while Umar failed to present any evidence capable of weakening, contradicting or creating reasonable doubt about the case against him.
The Supreme Court consequently resolved the sole issue for determination against Umar and in favour of the Kaduna State Government.
It dismissed the appeal for lacking merit and affirmed the Court of Appeal’s judgment in appeal number CA/K/370/C/2018, which had upheld the conviction and death sentence imposed by the Kaduna State High Court.
The judgment brought Umar’s appeal against his conviction to an end more than 11 years after the fatal stabbing occurred.
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