ADEWALE SHOLUADE V. THE REPUBLIC

LEWIS, J.S.C. (Delivering the judgment of the Court):

The appellant was tried in the High Court of Lagos before Adedipe J., sitting with a jury and was convicted of murder.

The case for the prosecution was that in the evening of the 8th of May, 1965 in Obadina Street, Lagos, the appellant struck the deceased once on the head with an axe as a result of which he fell down and had to be taken to Dr O. O. Hunponu-Wusu who treated him for a laceration on the head and after stitching it discharged him from the Lagos General Hospital, only for him to be readmitted shortly thereafter.

He subsequently died and in the post-mortem examination conducted on the 11th May, 1965 by Dr J. M. Uku, Senior Specialist Pathologist, he found that “there was a laceration 3/4” long on the left side of the scalp. I also found that the skull was broken on the right side. There was bleeding just under the skull at the site of the fracture. I found other organs to be normal. In my opinion the fracture of the skull i…