In the Cases of R VS MAKANJUOLA; R VS EASTON (1995) 2 CR. APP. R.
469, CA, Lord Taylor C.J., giving the Judgment of the Court, said that they
had been invited to give guidance as to the circumstances in which, as a
matter of discretion, a Judge, in summing up, ought to urge Caution in regard
to a Particular Witness and the terms in which that should be done. His
Lordship continued:
“The circumstances and evidence in Criminal Cases are infinitely variable and
it is impossible to categorize how a Judge should deal with them. But it is clear
that to carry on giving ‘discretionary’ warnings generally and in the same
terms as were previously obligatory would be contrary to the Policy and
Purpose of the 1994 Act. Whether, as matter of discretion, a Judge should give
any warning and if so its strength and terms must depend upon the content
and manner of the Witness’s Evidence, the circumstances of the Case and the
issues raised. The Judge will often consider that no special warning is required
at all. Where, however, the Witness has been shown to be unreliable, he or she
may consider it necessary to urge Caution. In a more extreme Case, if the
Witness is shown to have lied, to have made previous false Complaints, or to
bear the Defendant some grudge, a stronger warning may be thought
appropriate and the Judge may suggest it would be wise to look for some
supporting material before acting on the impugned Witness’s Evidence. We
stress that these observations are merely illustrative of some, not all, of the
factors which Judges may take into account in measuring where a Witness
stands in the Scale of Reliability and what response they should make at that
level in their directions to the Jury. We also stress that Judges are not required
to conform to any Formula and this Court would be slow to interfere with
exercise of Discretion by a Trial Judge who has the advantage of assessing the
manner of a Witness’s evidence as well as its content.” (Underlining Mine)
As regards PW6, Mr. Abdulkadir Umar, and the Evidence he rendered before
the Court, this Witness was the Assistant Chief Accountant of the Ministry of
Finance, who by his function, had to be involved, whether he liked it or not,
in the Financial Transactions before the Court. This Witness was consistent
in his Testimony that he only obeyed Orders and when he sensed a Breach,
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