Court acquits butcher, 19, accused of beating man to death

A 19-year-old butcher charged with conspiracy and culpable homicide has been discharged and acquitted for the inability of the police to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.

Delivering judgement on Friday, Justice Muawiyah Idris of an FCT High Court in Apo ruled that the confessional statement tendered by the investigating officers did not indicate in any way that it was interpreted to the defendant, Mansir Haruna, in Hausa, before signing, since he did not understand English.

The judge held that failure to comply with the law made the document inadmissible as exhibit.

He held a case of punishable that to establish culpable homicide with death, the ingredient of the case must be that the cause of death of the deceased was intentional.

He added that the father of the deceased, Ibrahim Mohammed, had confirmed that he was sick with cough for five years and died days after the fight.

“I am not satisfied that the defendant caused the death of the deceased, the defendant is hereby discharged and acquitted of both counts one and two,” Justice Idris held

The prosecutor had told the court that the defendant committed the offence on June 4, 2017 at Tipper Garage, Kuje FCT, Abuja. He said the defendant caused the death of the deceased by beating him to pulp.

The prosecutor said that the offences contravened sections 97 and 221 of the penal code.