Appeal Court. 14 February, 1936.
Coining-Statement
by one co-accused incriminating
another made
when latter is not present
inadmissible-Trial Court should
record
note
of such inadmissibility-Putting
of accused on his defence
when
no admissible evidence adduced
against him by prosecution~
The law relating thereto
discussed-Misdirection or
non-direction
of himself by trial
Judge-Evidence of accomplices
requires
corroboration-Constituents of
attempt discussed-Appeal
allowed.
The facts of this case are
sufficiently set out in the
judgment.
C.
H. Obafemi
for first and third Appellants.
R. Doherty
for fourth Appellant.
Second Appellant in person.
A. R. W. Sayle
for Crown.
First, second, third appellants'
appeals dismissed. That of
fourth appellant allowed.
The following judgment was
delivered :KINGDON, C.J.,
NIGERIA.
In this case the man Tiamiyu,
with whom this judgment deals,
was the seventh accused in the
Court below and the fourth
appellant before this Court. He
is hereinafter referred to
merely as the appellant. He was
convicted in the High Court of
the Ibadan Division on two
counts (the first and third at
the trial) and sentenced to ten
years' imprisonment (presumably
without hard labour) on the
first count and seven years'
imprisonment with hard labour on
the third count, the sentences
to run concurrently.
On the first count the charge
was :-
" Preparation for coining:
contra
section 148 (3) (c) of Criminal
Code."
And the particulars :-
" Akinpelu Ajani, Abolude Alamu,
Adewale and Tiamiyu were, on
17th September, 1935, at sundry
places in the Oyo Province, in
possession of sundry moulds,
tools, bellows, etc., adapted to
make current Nigerian silver
coins."
The prosecution led no evidence
whatever, admissible against the
appellant, to prove that he was
in possession, actual or
constructive, of any mould, tool
or bellows. The nearest approach
to any such
evidence
comes from the second witness, a
native administration police
constable, who says, "we
searched seventh accused's house
and found nothing. Before we
asked (? arrested) him he
admitted that Exhibit' B ' (a
mould), which we had found in
second accused's house, belonged
to him." This alleged admission
is no evidence of possession,
but, even if it were, the Court
made no investigation (as it
should have done) into how this
alleged confession came to be
made, and on such a bare record
it would be quite unsafe to act
upon such evidence.
So far as the admissibility of
evidence is concerned,
throughout the trial statements
made by one accused implicating
others were admitted without any
record being made, either at the
time of admission that such
'statements were not admissible
as evidence against accused who
were not present, or in a
summing up or judgment that the
trial Judge had warned himself
to disregard such statements in
considering the evidence in the
cases of the accused against
whom they were inadmissible.
This Court is of opinion that
for the sake of safety and
clarity it is desirable that
such a note should be made in
both places, though it is
sufficient if the record makes
it appear in one or the other
that such statements were not
wrongly considered. But when, as
in this case, there is nothing
in the record to make it so
appear, this Court might well
feel compelled to quash a
conviction, even though there
were sufficient admissible
evidence to support it.
Since, at the close of the case
for the prosecution, there was
no admissible evidence against
the appellant on this first
count, it follows that, at that
stage, he should have been
discharged as to count one and
not called upon to make any
answer to it. However, this
course was not taken by the
Court, but instead all the
accused, including the
appellant, were called upon for
their defences. The second
accused appears to have been
called upon first; he elected to
make a statement not on oath;
what he said is, therefore, not
evidence and must be disregarded
in so far as it implicates the
appellant. It may, however, be
pointed out in passing, that it
was an error in procedure to
allow this accused to be
cross-examined by his coaccused,
since he had elected not to be
sworn.
All the other accused, including
the appellant, gave sworn
evidence in their own defence,
and some of them, including the
appellant, called witnesses. The
appellant cross-examined some of
his coaccused. The evidence of
the first and third accused
definitely implicates the
appellant in the offence
charged. The first accused says,
" Seventh accused and Rabiu
brought all the things for
making money to my farm" and"
Exhibit· C' (bellows) was left
with me by seventh accused." The
third accused says, " On the day
I was to hand over money seventh
accused and Rabiu came to our
farms bringing the materials to
make money .... They hid the
materials in the bush and asked
us to keep the bellows in case
they should spoil. "
The learned Acting
Solicitor-General, on behalf of
the Crown, has submitted that,
since at the close of the case
for the prosecution no
submission was made by the
appellant that he had no case to
answer and he was in fact called
upon to answer, and since in his
defence he gave evidence
himself, called witnesses and
cross-examined his co-accused,
this Court must look at the case
as a whole and not quash the
conviction if there was
evidence, whether for
prosecution or defence, which,
if believed, would support the
conviction.
He relies upon the cases of
Rex v. Abraham George
(1 Cr. App.
Rep., p. 168) and
Rex v. JosePh Power
(14 Cr. App. Rep., p. 17; (1919)
1 K.B. 572).
The law in England on this point
has been open to some doubt and
still appears to be in a curious
state. The first case to be
considered by the Court of
Criminal Appeal is that of
Rex v. Benjamin Pearson
(1 Cr. App. Rep., p. 77). In
that the Lord Chief Justice said
:-
•• This conviction cannot stand.
There was not sufficient
evidence, when the case for the
prosecution closed, to be left
to the jury, either on the point
whether the goods formed part of
the stolen property, or whether
they were ever in appellant's
possession. Of course. if the
evidence for the defence
supported what was wanting the
Court would not interfere."
This case is hardly in point
because in it there was
some,
though not sufficient, evidence
to go to the jury. This case was
followed by
Rex v. Abraham George
(supra). There the Court upheld
the conviction with the words
:-
•• We have considered the point
argued before us that there was
no evidence for the
prosecution, and that
accordingly the Chairman ought
to have stopped the case. We do
not think that he was bound to
do so if no submission to that
effect was made to him, although
he might have done so on his own
initiative, and probably many
judges would have done so. And
as the case went on, this Court
is bound to look at it as it
turned out as a whole."
The appellant had not been
represented by Counsel in the
lower Court.
This was followed by
Rex v. Frederick Joiner
(4 Cr. App. Rep .• p. 64). In
that Darling, J., in quashing
the conviction, said:-
•• We are of opinion that it was
the duty of the Chairman to
withdraw the case from the jury,
and we have no right to say
otherwise, even if anything
adverse to the appellant was
elicited afterwards. Therefore
we take no notice as to what
happened afterwards."
Then came the case of
Rex v. Frederick Jackson
(5 Cr. App. Rep .• p. 22). In
that case Counsel for the
appellant submitted that there
was absolutely no case for the
prisoner to answer at the close
of the case for the prosecution,
and when the Court put to him
It
on the point of miscarriage of
justice, we are entitled to look
at the facts as a whole," he
argued :-
"The Court refused to do so in
Joiner on the ground that it was
the duty of the judge to
withdraw the case. As it is his
duty, I submit that the failure
of the prisoner to call upon him
to do it can make no difference
any more than the failure of the
prisoner to object to
inadmissible evidence entitled
the judge to admit it. It is a
startling proposition that the
prosecution may, when two
undefended prisoners are jointly
indicted, rely on the
probability that neither will
understand anything about'
submissions' and need,
therefore, offer no evidence
against one of them. To say that
a prisoner elects to go on is to
ignore the fact that most
prisoners know nothing about
criminal procedure."
In spite of this the Court
dismissed the appeal with the
words :-
" We are of opinion that this
case is governed by the case of
George.
The point was never submitted to
the Judge at the close of the
case for the prosecution, and
therefore as the prisoner
elected to go on, we may look at
the case as a whole."
This was followed
by the case of Rex v.
Alexander F.raser (7 Cr.
App. Rep., p. 99) in which the
Lord Chief Justice, in giving
the judgment of the Court,
said:-
" The point that there was no
evidence to go to the jury does
not really arise in this case.
Where an objection is taken by
counsel unsuccessfully, and he
then calls evidence, this Court
is not bound to disregard the
effect of that evidence. In
Pearson (above), where the
conviction was quashed, I said,
• Of course, if admissions by
the defendant had supplied the
evidence that was wanting, we
should not have interfered with
the jury's verdict: and in
George (above) Phillimore, J.,
said, • As the case proceeded to
the end the Court of Criminal
Appeal are of opinion that they
ought to look at the whole of
the evidence' ; it is true that
in Joiner (above), Darling, J.,
said: • If there was no evidence
that he stole them, then it was
the duty of the Court to
withdraw the case from the jury.
We have no right to look and see
whether any evidence of larceny
was elicited after the close of
the case for the prosecution,
when counsel for the prisoner
submitted that there was no
evidence to go to the jury.' At
present the Court is not
prepared to follow Joiner, but
prefers the reasoning in the
other two cases."
Then came the case of
Rex v. Joseph Power
(supra), in which Darling, J.
(the same Judge as had delivered
the judgment of the Court in
Joiner's case), gave the
judgment of the Court in the
following terms :-
" The appellant in this case was
tried at the Central Criminal
Court on an indictment which
charged him jointly with a man
named Lewis with having received
certain goods knowing them to
have been stolen. At the close
of the case for the prosecution
it was submitted by counsel for
the appellant that there was no
evidence that any part of the
stolen property had ever been in
the possession of the appellant.
The learned Commissioner, His
Honour Judge Rentoul, overruled
this submission, being of
opinion that there was some
evidence for the jury. The man
Lewis was then called as a
witness for the defence, and was
cross-examined by the
appellant's counsel. In the
course of his evidence he made
statements which incriminated
the appellant. It is now
contended in support of the
appeal that the prosecution
failed to make any case against
the appellant, and that the
incriminating evidence which was
given for the defence cannot be
taken into consideration in this
Court.
And
that is how the law stands
to-day, and it appears to amount
to this that in case where
the prosecution has made out
no
case against an accused, but in
spite of that he is called upon
by the. Court to enter upon his
defence instead of being
discharged :-
(a)
If at the close of the case for
the prosecution his Counsel, if
he was represented, made no
submission, he can be properly
convicted upon evidence
subsequently given.
and
(b)
If at the close of the case for
the prosecution, he, being
unrepresented and probably
completely ignorant of
procedure, made no submission,
he can be properly convicted
upon evidence subsequently
given.
and
(c)
If at the close of the case for
the prosecution he or his
Counsel made a submission which
was wrongly overruled then, if
either he or his Counsel took
any part in the subsequent
proceedings, an appeal against a
conviction resulting from those
proceedings will fail.
But
(d)
If at the close of the case for
the prosecution he or his
Counsel made a submission, which
was wrongly' overruled, and then
refused to take any part in the
subsequent proceedings, he will
be" quite safe," i.e. apparently
certain to get a possible
conviction quashed on appeal.
On to the horns of what a
dilemma does this cast an
accused or a defending Counsel
Should he stay quiet he may meet
with unjust conviction on the
uncontradicted evidence of a
co-accused when one question by
way of cross-examination would
have demonstrated the falseness
of the evidence. Should he put
that question he is throwing
away certain safety, if his view
as to the submission is right.
If this state of the law appears
to make it difficult for an
accused in England, it seems to
amount to a positive hardship in
this country where so many of
the accused are illiterate,
where trials of several accused
together are frequent and where
Judges owe a special duty to
protect their interests. But it
is for the legislature and not
for this Court to effect an
alteration of the law, and we
feel bound to give effect to the
law as we find it.
We have consequently considered
the whole case against the
appellant as it comes before us.
The evidence given which
implicated the appellant has
already been set out. It is the
evidence of two accomplices,
there is no corroboration, and
the evidence of one accomplice
is no corroboration of that of
the other.