SAMUEL ABENGOWE

In this Nigerian appellate decision authored by Kingdon, C., the court reviewed the manslaughter conviction of Samuel Abengowe, arising from the death of Nwantu Oriaku after Abengowe, an unqualified practitioner, injected a red liquid into her buttock. Oriaku had long been ill with sores and syphilis. She fainted immediately, developed swelling and peeling, and died the next day. The matter was reported to police seventeen days later. Dr. Nelson Wallace performed a post-mortem roughly three weeks after death, but decomposition prevented determining the cause. Although Wallace obtained organ samples and a Government analyst produced a report, the trial court excluded the report when the defence sought to tender it, without giving any reason. The appellate court criticized the prosecution for failing to particularize the specific negligence alleged and emphasized the lack of proof of causation—whether septicemia from a dirty injection or an overdose of poison. Concluding the evidence was insufficient, the court allowed the appeal, quashed the conviction, and entered an acquittal.