/' ! I / 6 the back of her head . This evidence of the P.W.6 dismissed the option that the: deceased was thrown down from the upstairs. But is he competent to give this evidence in the circumstances? The medical doctor who performed the post-mortem examination \fJOuld have clarified this better if he had testified . 1 It is therefore pertinent that the cause of death of the deceased should be established considering the circumstances in which the deceased body was discovered . In my opinion, medical report (autopsy) and ~vidence of a medical doctor who performed the autopsy are essential to establish the actual cause of death of the deceased considering the facts and circumstances of this case. Th is is so because where there are no facts which sufficiently showed the cause of death to the satisfaction of the Court, medical evidence of the actual cause of death is essential. SEE : EFFIONG VS . STATE (1998) 8 NWLR (PT. 562) 362. AWOPEJO VS . STATE (2001) 92 L. R. C. N. 3187. I will now consider the next ingred ient of the offence of murder to be proved by the prosecution beyond reasonable doubt which is that the death was caused by the act of the defendant. I have scrutinized the evidence adduced against the defendant by the P.W .2, P.W.4 , P.W.5 and P.W.6. I am afraid that there is no direct evidence linking the defendant with the commission of the offence as rightly submitted by the learned counsel for the defendant in his final written address. The learned counsel for the prosecution appreciated this fact hence he relied on circumstantial evidence in his final written address . He contended that the unbroken chain of circumstantial evidence led by the prosecution through the P.W .2 points irresistibly to only one conclusion , namely, that it was the defendant who m~rdered the deceased . In the case of IJIOFFOR VS . THE STATE (2001) 3 NWLR (PT. 718) 371, KARIBI-WHYTE, J. S. C. (as he then was) had this to say:- "The absence . of direct evidence is indeed the very essence of resort to circumstantial evidence. Where direct positive evidence is elusive with respect to the commission of an offence, surrounding circumstances of positive, cogent and compelling evidence inescapably linking the accused with the commission of the offence is