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JUDGMENT
JUDGMENT
The three accused persons were charged with
1. conspiracy to commit crime, to wit; cruelty to animal and stealing, contrary to
sections 23(1) and 124(1) of Act 29/60.
2. All three were charged with cruelty to animal, contrary to section 303(1) of Act
3. Conspiracy to commit crime, to wit; stealing, contrary to sections 23(1) and
124(1) of Act 29/60
4. Stealing, contrary to section 124(1) of Act 29/60
All three pleaded not guilty and in accordance with section 172 of Act 29, the
prosecution was to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The facts of prosecution are that on 11th March 2023 stopped one Bube
Muhammadu, a Fulani herds boy from grazing his cattle in the outskirts of Buntum
village near Kpandai. the conduct and approach of the accused persons made the
cattle to start running away, whereupon the accused persons started shooting at
the cattle, killing eight of them instantly. The herds boy ran in fear of being harmed
but hid in nearby bushes and watched as the accused pleased themselves.
According to prosecution, the accused then conveyed the carcasses and fled the
scene and the herds boy gathered the remnant of the cattle and sent them home
and informed his father who led him to make a complaint to the police leading to
their arrest. Prosecution tendered in evidence series of pictures depicting the crime
scene and some of the cattle that survived the gunshots.
In making their case, prosecution presented three witnesses. The first witness’
evidence lacked any credible evidence except the fact that he led his son to make a
report to the police. The second witness was the star witness of prosecution, being
an eye witness to the alleged crimes. According to this witness, when the accused
persons, in the company of other accomplices confronted him and he wanted to
flee the scene, the accused persons got hold of him and forced him to close his eyes
and he struggled with them, leading to the cattle scattering. He said upon seeing
the cattle flee, accused started shooting at them, killing eight of them instantly and
after killing the cows, they let go of him and he ran away to a safe hiding place and
watched them as they chopped up the carcass and carted same away in tricycles.
Witness produced names of the accused persons to the police leading to their
arrest.
According to PW3 the police investigator, it was the witness, PW2 who produced
the names of the accused to the police leading to their arrest. He adde