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WITHDRAWAL OF CHARGE CAN BE DONE AT ANY TIME BY THE PROSECUTION

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On the other hand, withdrawal of charge, does not amount to acquittal as rightly held by the lower Court. The prosecution always has the power to withdraw any charge it had filed earlier before a Court against an accused person. That withdrawal may be done for purpose of abandonment of the charge or for whatever reason the prosecution decides to do so without necessarily informing the trial Court the reason for such withdrawal. Withdrawal can also be done at any stage of the trial before conclusion or before Judgment is delivered either convicting or acquitting the accused person. In some of our laws however, “withdrawal” does not amount to dismissal of the case, in which case a bar to further prosecution could avail the appellant, depending on the circumstance of a given case.

— Romrig Nigeria Limited V. FRN (SC.254/2014, 15 Dec 2017)

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CHARGE MUST BE INTERPRETED TO ACCUSED LANGUAGE

All the above requirements must co-exist and must be satisfied as they are mandatory. For as Olatawura, JSC pungently pointed out in the case (Erekanure (supra) at page 393, paragraphs B-E of the Report: “In this case on appeal and according to the printed record, there is nothing to show that the court fully complied with these requirements. The five requirements must be satisfied. They are mandatory. The best that could be seen to have been done was that the charge was read to the accused, but in what language? If as it has been shown that it was read, was it explained to him? No. There is nothing on record to show also that it was even read by the registrar or an officer of the court. Where for instance no officer of the Court is capable of interpreting the charge in the language the accused person understands, a sworn interpreter is produced to explain the charge to the accused. As shown on page 26 of the printed record, the appellant spoke Urhobo language. The failure to comply fully or wholly with these requirements renders the trial a nullity.”

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THERE MUST BE A CHARGE FOR PROSECUTION OF A CRIME

In the case in hand, the learned trial judge did compel the appellants to choose either the witness box or the dock and it is significant that they all chose the witness box. This of course is an outrage on our criminal procedure for the learned trial judge had in the circumstances, with a witness in the witness box and without any other prosecutor, assumed that role in a most irregular inquisition, which is most undignified of a judge of a superior court. At the end of his ruling the learned trial judge stated that he found the appellants guilty but there was no charge and it is manifest that the judge did not deal as he should have dealt with the appellants’ brevi manu by asking them into the dock to show cause why they should not be punished for contempt of court and punishing them accordingly.

– GEORGE BAPTIST AYODOLA COKER, J.S.C. A.U. Deduwa & Ors. v. The State (1975)

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DISCRETION OF ATTORNEY GENERAL IN TAKING OVER CHARGE

The prosecutorial powers of the office of the Attorney-General of any State in the Federation, by dint of Section 211 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, include taking over, at any stage, the case and the case file from the police and filing an information in the High Court in respect of any offence which, in their discretion, has been disclosed by the police investigation. This discretion cannot be denied to the office of the Attorney-General.

— E. Eko, JSC. Kekong v State (2017) – SC.884/2014

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ALLEGATION TO ALTERING CHARGE

The allegation that the PW.3 altered or attempted to alter Exhibit C, extra judicial statement of the Appellant is too serious a charge against the PW.3 and the prosecution to be allowed to be whimsically struggled into issue 2 without a ground of appeal putting the respondent on notice of this very serious charge that is criminal, as well as unethical, in nature. The sub-issue iv will accordingly be discountenanced.

— E. Eko, JSC. Kekong v State (2017) – SC.884/2014

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INGREDIENTS TO SUCCEED IN A CHARGE MURDER

For the prosecution to succeed in a charge of murder, it must prove the following ingredients. 1. That the death of the deceased was a result of the voluntary act of the accused; 2. That the accused had an intent to cause the death or cause grievious bodily harm to the deceased; 3. That the death of the deceased was a direct result of the act of accused to the exclusion of all probable causes.

– OMOBONIKE IGE, J.C.A. Etumionu v. AG Delta State (1994)

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ONLY A CHARGE CREATED BY A COMPANY REQUIRES REGISTRATION

It has been held that it is only charges to secure money that are registrable, so a charge which, if granted by an individual, would require registration under the Bills of Sale Act, 1882, will not necessarily be registrable if granted by a company. See Stoneleigh Finance Ltd. v. Phillips (1965) 2 QB 537. And only a charge created by a company requires registration not one, which arises by operation of law such as an unpaid vendor’s lien. See London and Cheshire Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Laplagrene Property Co. Ltd. (1971) Ch. 499.

– Augie JSC. Bank v. TEE (2003)

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