Abuja: An Abuja High Court has acquitted 29-year-old Simanyi Lawal of the charge of stabbing his casual friend, Farouk Hamza, to death.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Justice Cyprian Agashieze delivered the judgment, stating that the prosecution failed to present eyewitnesses to confirm that the stabbing incident occurred. The judge emphasized that the prosecution counsel, Oluwaseun Alabi, had the burden to prove that Hamza’s death resulted directly from Lawal’s actions, and that these actions were done with the intent to cause death, in order to secure a conviction for culpable homicide.
The court noted that although a jack knife and a kitchen knife were presented as evidence, the prosecution did not provide the name of the doctor who declared Hamza dead, nor was an autopsy conducted to determine the cause of death. Justice Agashieze pointed out that an autopsy could have demonstrated where and how the knife entered the victim’s body, which was crucial in establishing the cause of death.
Additionally, the court highlighted the absence of a death certificate and the failure of the prosecution to investigate the four individuals who were present in the room at the time of the incident. There was also no video recording of Lawal’s statements to the police or test results proving the presence of the drug ‘ice’ in his system.
The prosecution’s case was primarily based on circumstantial evidence, which the court found insufficient to prove Lawal’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Earlier, the prosecution alleged that Lawal stabbed Hamza with a jack knife on September 16, 2022, during an argument after spending the night at a friend’s place in Ushafa, Abuja. Sgt. Terseer, a prosecution witness, testified that Hamza was taken to Bwari General Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The witness also claimed that Lawal confessed to being under the influence of a drug known as ‘Ice’ at the time of the incident.
In his defense, Lawal denied stabbing Hamza, leading to his acquittal due to the insufficient evidence presented by the prosecution.