A JURISPRUDENTIAL EXAMINATION OF THE DEFENCE OF PROVOCATION UNDER THE NIGERIAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53704/fulaj.v1i1.527Abstract
By the nature of human beings, they are capable of losing power of self-control when they are enraged. Nigerian law recognizes the potential for diminished capacity due to provocation for a person who is alleged to have committed a crime. This is because justice appreciates the need to inquire into the degree of culpability of the accused in the events leading to the crime. The aim of this work is to examine the provisions of Sections 283, 284, 285 and 318 of the Criminal Code applicable in Southern Nigeria and Sections 265 and 266 of the Penal Code Law applicable in the Northern States of Nigeria and attitude of the courts when the defence is raised by the defence. The study adopted doctrinal methodology and placed reliance on statutes, decided cases, journals, textbooks and internet sources. This study found that the defence of provocation under the Nigerian law will only mitigate the punishment for the offence of murder (or culpable homicide punishable with death in the northern part of Nigeria), but will not attract an acquittal; and that the test of provocation is inadequate. The study recommends that when the defence is raised by the defendant, the court should give significant weight to the defendant’s state of life prior to the commission of the alleged offence in awarding punishment.
Keywords: Conviction, Crime, Mitigation, Provocation, Punishment
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The Criminal Justice Act of 1967 which included in the law that a court or jury, in determining whether a person has committed an offence, (a) shall not be bound in law to infer that he intended of foresaw a result of his actions by reason only of it being a natural and probable consequence of those actions; but (b) shall decide whether he did intend or foresee that result by reference to all the evidence. This is a shift from an objective test for intent and foresight to a subjective test. See DPP v Smith (1961) AC 290; Stephen Emoga v The State (1997) 7 SCNJ 518; Nyambus Kpanta v State (1977) 1 FCA 259.
See R v Prince (1875) LR 2 CCR 154; R v Faulkner R v Adekanmi (1994) 17 NLR 99; Abeke v State (2007) 9 NWLR (Pt. 1040) 411 at 429-430.
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Expressed in Latin maxim as: Restitutio in Integrum.
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Eze v State (2014) LPELR-23631 (CA); Harrison Owhoruke v C.O.P. (2015) LPELR-24820 (SC).
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Section 222 (1) PCL.
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(1952) II NLR 6.
(1935) AC 463.
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(1947) 2 All E.R.
Section 138 (1) of the Evidence Act Cap E.14 LFN 2011.
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See Johnson v COP (1960) WNLR 118.
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