A high court of FCT , Maitama has discharged and acquitted a housewife, Amina Dauda, accused of killing her husband, Mohammed Matazu, a former reporter with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), in Kaduna State. Dauda, 28, was arraigned before Justice Hussein Baba Yusuf, on May 22, 2013, on a one count of culpable homicide which violated Section 221 punishable with death.
The prosecutor alleged that Dauda, sprayed Matazu with petrol in their residence at Gwarinpa, Abuja,and set him ablaze. Delivering judgment, Baba-Yusuf, held that the police did not carry out their investigations very well. “They did not show true professionalism in the conduct of their investigation, all they did was take the defendant’s statement and visit to the scene
and did not gather any other evidence.
Though, there is evidence of death before the court but all the five witnesses called by the police are not eye witnesses to the incident. Baba-Yusuf held that in a case of culpable homicide, the prosecution must prove that there was a death of human; that it was caused by a human being with the intention of killing.
The judge noted that the burden of proof was on the prosecution to discharge, adding that the defendant had no burden to prove until when the prosecution discharged its burden that she could be called upon to give explanation. He stated that going by the three extra-judicial statements made by the defendant, tendered and admitted as exhibits by the court,
Dauda did not admit the offence she was charged with.
