Guilty as Charged

By

Nwokocha Chidinma Grace,

Lagos, Nigeria.

 

"I did it!” He blurted out without remorse.

"You did whaat?" Inspector Olopaa asked, praying that he did not just hear this man say he committed the sacrilege.

"I killed my wife", Kenny replied, still unrepentant.

For what seemed like hours, Inspector Olopaa was speechless. He sat gazing at this man like one who had just seen a ghost. In his entire 30 years as a Police officer, this was the first time a suspect was confessing to a crime voluntarily. When he came to himself, he instructed the police constable on duty to remand the suspect the cell pending proper investigation and arraignment.  Inspector Olopaa was determined to get to the root of the matter by personally investigating the alleged commission. He especially wanted to find out why a murder suspect would voluntarily confess to killing his own wife. 

“Something must have gone wrong”, he reasoned within himself.

At exactly  11:30pm that night, Inspector Olopaa sneaked into Cell 8, the most notorious  cell in the State CID, where hardened criminals and persons accused of grievous offences where kept. He was dressed in mufti to obscure his identity.  He gently tapped Kenny who was already fast asleep and motioned him to follow him. Kenny was led down a very dark hallway, out of the police cell and into the adjoining building which serves as the Inspector's official residence whenever he was in town. A door opened and he was led to a well-furnished sitting room. He was made comfortable and was served food and drinks. That settled, Inspector Olopaa asked him to narrate the whole story and why he so readily confessed to the commission of the crime.

Kehinde Peterson had met Yetunde at the Nigerian Law School. He was the group leader and had first noticed her when she helped the group solve a task given to them by their corporate law lecturer which no other member of the group could solve. He had thanked her profusely. She was a very tall, dark and quiet girl who never asked or answered any questions in class except when she was called upon to do so.  He made secret enquiries about her and found out that she had graduated with a first class from the University and was in fact the best graduating student in her set. He wasted no time in asking her out and before long they started dating. They eventually got married two years after law school.

The marriage was blissful and they lived happily together but all that soon became history. After the first year of marriage without a child, Yetunde became very worried and temperamental. She resorted to physical battering of her husband at the slightest provocation. She stopped cooking for him and would destroy household items whenever he complained about her behavior. She also started denying him his conjugal rights and would put up a fight whenever he demanded it. Her husband tried as much as he could to salvage the situation but the matter only grew worse and she soon extended her violent behavior to members of his family whenever they visited.

One particular Monday, she went to work and did not return. There were no calls or text messages intimating her husband of her whereabouts. Kenny was worried and contacted all known family members, friend and acquaintances but no one had any idea where she could be. She returned at 11:00pm the following day and when confronted by her husband; she ran into the kitchen and came out brandishing a knife and threatening to kill him if he made any silly move. Kenny ran for his dear life and spent the night with some of her family members and narrated the whole story to them. They followed him home the next morning only to meet the Plasma TV and DSTV Decoder destroyed. She claimed that she had returned from the office when her husband beat her to stupor and pushed her violently on the floor making her hit her head on the Plasma TV and decoder and sustaining severe injuries on her head. She showed them her bandaged head as evidence and they believed her and took her with them to nurse the injuries.

On another occasion, her husband’s sister who had just given birth visited him with his mother. His mother prepared his favorite native soup that night and just when the food was about to be served, Yetunde sneaked into the kitchen and emptied the container of salt into the soup. Kenny and his mother and sister managed to sleep on a cup of tea that night as the soup was unbearable. The next day, while his sister was having her bath, the baby had woken up crying loudly for its mother. Yetunde picked the child up and flung him on the sofa. The child sustained injuries and was hospitalized as a result. He had just returned from the hospital when he met his wife and mother in serious argument. His mother claimed that his wife had stepped on the new iPhone 7 he bought for her the week before, shattering it into pieces and promised to make life miserable for members of his family. While he tried separating the two women, his wife rushed to the Kitchen, brought the pestle and smashed his mother's head with it. Blood gushed out from the wounds and she was immediately rushed to the hospital where his sister's son was also admitted. 

Kehinde knew he had had enough and must put an end to the marriage sooner or later; and so on the day when he killed his wife, he had woken up with a nostalgic feeling. It was the day he was scheduled to see his lawyer to commence divorce proceedings. He had just had his bath and was dressing up when he got a call from the hospital to come over immediately.  On getting there, he was told that his mother and nephew had died from the various wounds inflicted on them by his wife. Now if there was anybody Kenny never joked with, it was his mother. His head spun round twice. He picked up his brief case and headed home. Hardly had he stepped his feet into the house when his wife began ranting and demanding explanation as to why he left her alone in the house that early morning. He ignored her and headed straight to his bedroom for his pump action riffle. It was time to end their lives and the marriage once and for all. Coming out of his room, he met her. She landed him three dirty slaps on the cheek and said he had the effrontery to walk out on her while she was talking to him. She had raised her hand to give him another slap when he fired the shot and she fell down dead.

He pointed the gun to his head, said his last prayers and was about pulling the trigger when he was intercepted by strong hands from behind. He turned to see the faces of two police men, Corporal Ojo and Sergeant Musa. It happened that the officers were patrolling the area when they heard the shot and rushed to the scene.  He surrendered willingly and was driven to the station where he confessed to the commission of the crime.

Kehinde Peterson was led back to the police station where he reduced his confession into writing in the presence of Inspector Olopaa, a senior police officer. He has now been arraigned at the High Court on a 2 count charge of Murder and attempted suicide. As a legal practitioner, Kenny has decided to represent himself. Advice him on the following legal issues:

1. The effect of his confessional statement on his conviction
2. Any defence (s), if any, available to him
3. The propriety or otherwise of defending himself on a charge of murder.