CRIMINAL LITIGATION: WEEK 3 PRE CLASS ACTIVITY

GROUP 3

Etim and Inyang, students in the Evergreen University Abuja went to rob their lecturer, Professor
Dogood in his official quarters on January 16, 2020. They beat the professor up, raped his
16-year-old daughter and made away with his N1, 000, 000.

On 17th January 2020, Inspector Gage received a complaint by Professor Dogood and
immediately obtained a summons from the Chief Magistrate sitting in Wuse, directing the
suspects to appear before the Magistrate Court on 18th January to answer charges on robbery,
assault and rape. Etim and Inyang did not appear as directed. The police raided the house of
Etim and Inyang at about 4am before they will leave for Sunday service and arrested everyone
found on the premises, including Etim. Professor Dogood identified Etim as one of the people
that robbed and assaulted him and his daughter. Inspector Gage who was outraged at the act of
the students on their lecturer, landed a hot slap on him while ordering the other policemen to beat
and search everyone on site. The search revealed 5 wraps of cocaine on the body of Ms. Angela,
a final year law student of the university and 2 AK 47 Riffles under the bed. The suspects were
handcuffed and bundled into a van that took them to the police station in Wuse. Two days later,
Inyang was arrested at a drinking joint in Calabar. The suspects were detained at the police
station for two weeks before they were arraigned before the Chief Magistrate’s court in Wuse for
unlawful possession of firearm and hard drugs, robbery and rape of a minor.

Answer the following questions:

a. What alternative document could have been issued by the magistrate above? Give reasons for
your answer

b. Would your answer above remain the same if the complaint was a simple assault?

c. Comment on the propriety of arresting everyone found on the premises?

d. What is the proper procedure for making an arrest?

e. What is the effect, if any, of irregularities in the execution of the arrest above?

f. Comment on the search of the suspects house and the exhibits found

g. Outline the procedure the police followed to arrest Inyang

h. Comment on the constitutional right violations by the police

i. Comment on the admissibility of the cocaine found on Ms Angela?

Answers:

a. An alternative document that could have been issued by the magistrate in the scenario is a
Warrant of Arrest.
A warrant of arrest may be issued in various circumstances such as:
i. When the law creating the offence provides that the offender cannot be arrested
without a warrant.
ii. Where a summons has been disobeyed. See Section 131 Administration of
Criminal Justice Act 2015
iii. Where the alleged offence is a serious one.
iv. Where the court sees reason to believe that the suspect has absconded or will not
obey the summons. See Section 83(1) Administration of Criminal Justice Act
2015

From the above scenario, a warrant of arrest is the appropriate alternative as the alleged
offence is serious and Etim and Inyang disobeyer the summons issued by the court.

b. No, my answer would not remain the same as Summons is normally issued in respect of
minor offences. Summons is a document issued by the court to an offender inviting him
to appear before it to answer to a complaint made against him. See Section 113
Administration of Criminal Justice Act and Section 79 Administration of Criminal
Justice Laws (Lagos)

c. Generally, Section 3 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 provides that
"A suspect or a defendant alleged or charged with committing an offence established by
an Act of the National Assembly shall be arrested, investigated, inquired into, tried or
otherwise dealt with according to the provisions of this Act, except otherwise provided in
this Act". With regards to the scenario given, there is an issue as regards to the actions of
the police by arresting everyone found on the premises. The issue is that they don't fall
under the term Suspect or an Alleged Defendant. In other words, they are not suspects
and cannot be treated as such until accusations have been made or evidence provided.
Therefore, in the given scenario, the arrest of everyone in the premises by the police is
improper.

d. The proper procedure for making an arrest is as follows:

The officer effecting the arrest must notify the suspect of the reason for the arrest except when he
is in the actual course of the commission of the offence or is pursed immediately after as
provided for in section 6 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015. The police officer
making the arrest shall also inform the suspect of his rights to remain silent until after
consultation with a legal practitioner or a person of his choice In making the arrest, consult a
legal practitioner before making any statement and free legal representation by the Legal Aid
Council of Nigeria as provided in section 6(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act
2015. Also, the police officer effecting the arrest shall actually touch or confine the body of the
suspect, unless there is submission to the custody by word or by action. See section 4 of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015. In accordance with section 8(1) of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act, the suspect shall be accorded humane treatment and shall
not be subject to any form of torture, cruel or inhumane treatment.

e. Generally, when there is an irregularity in the execution of an arrest, the action does not
vitiate the arrest nor hinder the criminal trial in court. This is because once the arrest is
successful, the court of criminal jurisdiction is only concerned about the suspect
appearing before it, and not the strategies involved in the arrest of the offender.1

f. Section 9(1) (a) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act2 , states that where a
suspect is arrested by a police officer or a private person, the officer making the arrest or
to whom the private person hands over the suspect may search the suspect, using such
force as may be reasonably necessary for the purpose. Also, the general rule before any
premises is searched is that a search warrant must be obtained otherwise it would be
unlawful as it contravenes Section 37 of the 1999 constitution which guarantees and
protect the privacy of its citizens. The exception to this general rule is where:
a. A police officer acting upon a warrant of arrest or having authority to arrest a person
reasonably believes that a suspect has entered into any premises, can enter into such
premise to search and such person residing there shall grant him free and unhindered
access.3
b. Justice of Peace directs that a search be made in his presence of any place for which he is
competent to issue a search warrant;4’
c. An officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency or police officer may enter
and search premises without warrant in order to recover drugs kept in the premises;5
d. A custom officer may enter or break into a place where he reasonably believes that
illegally imported goods are kept.6

Where the above is not complied with, such search will be unlawful. Therefore, the search of the
house of Etim by Inspector Gage, was unauthorized because they only obtained a summon and
not a search warrant or an arrest warrant. This in itself makes the search of the premises illegal.
Furthermore, the search of a person under Section 9 (3) of Administration of Criminal Justice
Act7, provides that where it is necessary to search a suspect, the search shall be made decently

1
I.G.P v. Ehiguase [1962] WRNLR 129
2
Section 9(1)(a) of ACJA 2015
3
Section 141(1) Administration of Criminal Justice Act
4
Section 152 Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA)
5
Section 32 National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act (NDLEA Act)
6
Section 147 Custom and Excise Management Act
7
Section 9(3) of ACJA 2015
and by a person of the same sex unless the urgency of the situation or the interest of due
administration of justice makes it impracticable for the search to be carried out by a person of the
same sex. Consequently, the search carried out on Ms. Angela was not conducted by a woman
and so therefore amounts to an infringement of her right to dignity.8 With regards to the exhibits
found, section 14 of the Evidence Act provides evidence obtained improperly or in contravention
of a law or in consequence of an impropriety or of a contravention of a law shall be admissible
unless the court is of the opinion that the desirability of admitting the evidence is out-weighed by
the undesirability of admitting evidence that has been obtained in the manner in which the
evidence was obtained. Therefore, the exhibits found are admissible unless the opinion of the
court is contrary.

g. The procedure the police followed to arrest Inyang is as follows:

The three processes of bringing a suspect to court are:
1. Arrest with warrant;
2. Arrest without warrant; and
3. Summons.
In this scenario, the police obtained a summons which is a document issued by the court to an
offender inviting him to appear before it to answer to a complaint made against him. The
summons was disobeyed by the suspects. In this scenario, Etim and Inyang disobeyed the
summons and the police had to break in their premise by 4am on a Sunday, which is lawful as
provided for in section 3 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 as they have
disobeyed the summons and Inyang was eventually arrested without a warrant at a drinking joint
in calabar.

h. The constitutional right violated by the police include:

Right to Dignity of Human Person
Section 34 (1) (a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as
amended provides that every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person
and accordingly, no person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading
treatment.

In the scenario, the beating up and slapping of the suspects while also the handcuffing them are
all against Section 3 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, the suspect shall not be
beaten, handcuffed, leg chained or subjected to any form of restraint except with the order of the
court/magistrate/justice of Peace.

This is a clear violation of the constitutional rights of Etim, Ms Angela and everyone else on site.

Right to Be Informed of Reasons for Arrest 9

8
Section 34 of the 1999 Constitution
9
Section 35(3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended
Section 35(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended
provides that any person who is arrested/ detained shall be informed in writing within 24 hours
and in a language that he understands of the facts and grounds for his arrest and detention.

The case of Maja v. The State10 provides the suspect must be informed of the reasons for his
arrest at the earliest opportunity, that is, at the point of arrest. In the scenario, that was not done
by the Police, and this is a violation of their constitutional rights.

Right to Privacy

Generally, citizens have right to their privacy and liability can arise through the unlawful search
of a person’s premises. Although the Police later found exhibits useful for proving their cases,
they may be liable for the improper search of Ms. Angela and everyone else on site.

Right to Be Charged to Court within a Reasonable Time11.

Section 35(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides that a defendant
must be charged to court within a reasonable time, and a reasonable time here connotes within 24
hours (one day) where a court is within 40 km or a period of two or more days where necessary.
From the scenario above, the suspects, were kept in custody for about two weeks, which was a
violation of their constitutional rights. They ought to have been arraigned during this period.
However, the court will also need to define what a reasonable time is in the given scenario.12

i. The position of the law is that incriminating items recovered in the course of an illegal
search is admissible in evidence once it is relevant to the facts in issue unless the
desirability of admitting the evidence is outweighed by the undesirability of admitting the
evidence. Section 15 of the Evidence Act provides the guide which the court will use to
determine the admissibility of the illegally obtained evidence such as the probative value
of the evidence and its relevance to the facts13. Therefore, the cocaine found on Ms.
Angela is admissible.

10
[1980] 1 N.C.R. 212
11
Section 35(4) of the 1999 Constitution as amended
12
Section 35(5) Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended
13
Section 15 of the Evidence Act 2015