JOHN EDO & ANOR V. COMMISSIONER OF POLICE

BAIRAMIAN, F.J (Delivering the Judgment of the Court)

The appellants were convicted on 14th April, 1959, on three charges, by S.A. Abina, Esq., Senior Magistrate at Warri; their appeal was dismissed by Kester, J., and they have appealed further.

The charges were (1) under s. 365 of the Criminal Code, of depriving one Tebegbene of his personal liberty; (2) under s. 406, of demanding £10 with threats and with intent to steal, the threat alleged being that he would be taken to the Police Station and imprisoned; and (3) under s. 390, of stealing £5 of his.

The facts found by the learned Senior Magistrate were these: someone complained that his wife had been abducted, and the appellants, who were police constables were detailed to investigate. He told them that Tebegbene, the complainant in the present case, was the only person who could direct them to where the abductor was to be found, and took them to the complainant’s camp. On arriving, they told him that he was under arrest on account of…