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ACCUSED CAN BE CONVICTED BASED ON CONFESSIONAL STATEMENT ALONE – NEED TO TEST CONFESSIONAL STATEMENT

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The law is also trite that an accused person can be convicted based on his confession alone. In such situation, there is however the need to test the truth of the confession in the light of other credible evidence before the Court. Such test as enunciated in the case of R. V. Skyes (1913) 8 CAR page 233 may include the following:- Whether there is anything outside the confession to show that it is true. Whether it is corroborated. Whether the statement made in it are in fact true as far as they can be tested. Whether the accused had the opportunity of committing the crime. Whether the confession is possible. Whether it is consistent with other facts which have been ascertained and which have been proved. See also Onyenye v The State (supra), Alarape v The State (2001) 5 NWLR (pt 705) 79, Dawa & Anor v The State (1980) SC 236 page 267.

— J.I. Okoro, JSC. Chibuike Ofordike V. The State (SC.695/2016, 2019)

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FREE AND VOLUNTARY CONFESSIONAL STATEMENT CAN GROUND A CONVICTION

In the case of Udo v State (2016) 12 NWLR (Pt.1525) pp.33-34, paras. H-A, this Court held that: “Free and voluntary confessional statement of an accused alone is sufficient to sustain his conviction, provided the Court is satisfied that it was made in a free atmosphere and is direct, unequivocal and positively proved. In this case, the two statements made by the appellant as Exhibits 4 and 5 were confessional. They were sufficient to convict the appellant thereon. Consequently, the defence of alibi raised by the accused during his testimony was too late in the day and only an afterthought”.

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WHERE DEATH SENTENCE IS THE PUNISHMENT, CONFESSIONAL STATEMENTS SHOULD APPLY WITH THE LEGAL PROCEDURE

The learned trial judge having admitted that the prosecution still bears the burden to call evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant made a voluntary confession in a trial within trial, went ahead to shift the burden of proof to the Appellant (Defendant at the trial Court). Evidence of a video recording or the presence of a legal practitioner would have been conclusive proof that the confessional statement was obtained voluntarily. It makes it imperative in the circumstances, particularly in cases of armed robbery where a death sentence is the sanction on conviction, that confessional statements should be taken according to the provisions of the law. Even where the prosecution has ignored the provision of the law as sacrosanct as this, the trial judge should have brought it up suo motu. The judge cannot pick and choose which extant law to enforce.

— H.M. Ogunwumiju, JSC. Friday Charles v. The State of Lagos (SC.CR/503/2020, Friday March 31 2023)

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CONFESSIONAL STATEMENT TENDERED WITHOUT OBJECTION IS VALID

The law is well settled that when a confessional statement is tendered without objection by an accused or his counsel, they cannot cry foul on appeal as it is deemed they were in agreement with what was tendered at the trial Court, see the cases of Shurumo v. State (2010) LPELR-3069(SC) and FRN v. Kayode-Beckley (2020) LPELR-50549(CA), neither the appellant nor his counsel objected to PW4 tendering exhibit A at the trial Court.

– EBIOWEI TOBI, J.C.A. Abdul v. State (2021)

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SIX TESTS CONFESSIONAL STATEMENT MUST PASS IF RETRACTED

Where a confessional statement is retracted as in this case, the Court then shall decide the weight it would attach to the confessional statement. The best way to go about it is by subjecting the confession to the underlisted six tests, namely: (a) Is there anything outside the confession to show that it is true? (b) Is the confessional statement corroborated (c) Are the statements made in it of facts and so far as we can test them, true? (d) Is the accused person a person who had the opportunity of committing the offence (e) Is his confession possible? (f) Is it consistent with other facts which have been ascertained and which have been proved at the trial See Kareem v FRN (2003) 16 WRN 114; Kolawole v State (2015) EJSC (Vol.3) 41; Dibie v State (2007) 1 ALL FWLR (pt.363) 83; Ejinima v State (1991) 5 LRCN 1640; Bature v State (1994)1 NWLR (pt.320) 267.

— Amiru Sanusi, JSC. Ogunleye Tobi v The State (2019) – SC.714/2017

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CONFESSIONAL STATEMENT IS THE BEST POINTER TO THE TRUTH

It is trite law that a confessional statement made by an accused person, which is properly admitted in evidence is, in law, the best pointer to the truth of the role played by such accused person in the commission of the offence … There is however a duty on the Court to test the truth of a confession by examining it in the light of the other credible evidence before the Court.

– Adamu Jauro, JSC. Enabeli v. State (2021)

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CONFESSIONAL STATEMENT IS THE BEST EVIDENCE

Confessional statement is the best evidence to ground conviction and, as held in a number of cases, it can be relied upon solely where voluntary. The criminal guilt of an accused person could be established by confessional statement, circumstantial evidence and evidence of an eye witness. A confessional statement of the Appellant that was free and voluntary led to the crystallisation of the procedure stipulated under Section 156 and 157 of the CPC, which 17 were duly applied as held above. A confessional statement does not become inadmissible even if the accused person denied having made it. This has been the settled position in our jurisprudence of criminal justice.

— S.D. Bagel, JSC. Mohammed v. COP (2017) – SC.625/2014

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