made by the defendant voluntarily, or that the defendant is not the
maker of the statement.
In the recent case of Aliyu V. State {2023} 18 NWLR pt 1915 p 1,
Ratio 1 at pages 2-3, the Supreme Court has held that a defendant
resiling from his confessional statement does not make it unreliable
where the trial court ensures that some corroborative evidence outside
the confession abides making the truth of the contents of the retracted
confession probable.
- Mohammed V.s State {2014} 12 NWLR pt 1421 p 387
- Kim V. State {1992} 4NWLR pt 233 p 17
- Yesufu V. State {1976} 6 SC 63
- Okegbu V. State {1984} 8 SCNLR 65
- State V. Yahaya {2019} 38 WRN 14
This court for the purpose of determining the admissibility of the
defendant’s statement dated 9/4/2019, has gone through the evidence
of PW2 and PW4 on the record, evidence of the defendant as DW1 as
well as the substance of the statement sought to be tendered and of the
humble view that the evidence of PW2 and PW4 coupled with
evidence of the defendant as DW1, provides a corroborative evidence
outside the confessional statement probable.
It is trite law that a trial court has the adjudicatory powers to accept
and act on a retracted confession where there is evidence outside the
confession tending to establish that the defendant in fact made the
statement voluntarily.
- State V. Yahaya {supra}
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