The prosecution has therefore failed to discharge the burden placed on
her by law. I find the defendant not guilty of Count one of the charge
against her. She is accordingly discharged and acquitted on Count one of
the charge.
Count two of the charge is as follows:
“COUNT TWO:
That you Mary Okoh on or about February 29, 2012 in Abuja
within the judicial Division of the High Court of Justice of the
FCT
forged
a
GOVERNMENT
certain
document
CERTIFICATE
OF
captioned
OCCUPANCY
FEDERAL
with
no.
77/77/73 dated 7th August, 2001 and did commit an offence
contrary to Section 362(a) and punishable under Section 364 of
the Penal Code LFN (Abuja) 1990.”
Section 362(a) of the Penal Code provides as follows:
“362. A person is said to make a false document –
(a) who dishonestly or fraudulently makes, signs, seals or
executes a document or part of a document or mark
denoting
the
execution
of
a
document
with
the
intention of causing it to be believed that such
document or part of a document was made, signed,
sealed or executed by the authority of a person by
whom or by whose authority he knows that it was not
made, signed, sealed or executed.”
In YOHANNA DALYOP VS. THE STATE (UNREPORTED) delivered
by the Court of Appeal (Jos Judicial Division) on Thursday, the 16th day
of May, 2013 in Suit No: CA/J/234C/07 Ige JCA held as follows:
“It is therefore necessary to find out the meaning of forgery
and its ingredients under the penal code in order to see
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