It is conceded that medical evidence is not always essential. Where the victim dies in circumstances in which there is abundant evidence of the manner of death medical evidence can be dispensed with.
– Nnamani JSC. Lori v. State (1980)
JPoetry » medical report » MURDER CASES: MEDICAL EVIDENCE CAN BE DISPENSED WITH
It is conceded that medical evidence is not always essential. Where the victim dies in circumstances in which there is abundant evidence of the manner of death medical evidence can be dispensed with.
– Nnamani JSC. Lori v. State (1980)
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Learned counsel for the appellant raised eyebrows on the failure of the prosecution/respondent to tender any medical report on the death of the deceased victim. It is trite law, that medical evidence though is desirable in establishing the cause of death in a case of murder, it is however not essential or a pre-requisite in a situation where there are facts sufficient enough to show the cause of death to the satisfaction of the Court. See LORI V STATE (supra) Uwaegbe Enewoh v The State (1990) NWLR (pt.145) 469 or (1990) 7 SC.
— Amiru Sanusi, JSC. Ogunleye Tobi v The State (2019) – SC.714/2017
The absence of a medical report in a case of rape is not fatal to the case of the Prosecution if there are other factors to corroborate the commission of the offence. – EBIOWEI TOBI, J.C.A. Abdul v. State (2021)
In David Ifenado v. The State (1967) N.M.L.R. 200, a decision of this Court which was relied on by the Federal Court of Appeal, the doctor after his evidence in chief produced a medical report which was received in evidence. Brett, J.S. C. (delivering the judgment of the Court) held that It was clearly inadmissible at that stage. The Doctor might properly have been allowed to refresh his memory from the report under Section 215 of the Evidence Act and the defence would then have been entitled to see it and cross-examine on it, in which case it might have been produced in evidence but it ought not to have been admitted at the trial in the evidence-in-chief.
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