In addition to the above oral testimonies of the three witnesses of the
Prosecution, Exhibits PW2A, PW3A, PW3B, PW3C and PW3D were tendered as
documentary evidence in proof of the Prosecution’s case. It is trite law that
where there are oral and documentary evidence, the documentary evidence
should be used as a hangar to test the veracity of the oral evidence. See:
EGHAREVBA v OSAGIE (2009) LPELR-1044(SC), per Ogbuagu, JSC at pages 34 –
35, paras. E – A; KIMDEY & ORS. v MILITARY GOV. OF GONGOLA STATE & ORS.
(1988) LPELR-1692(SC), per Nnaemeka Agu, JSC at page 54, paras. A – B; and
CAMEROON AIRLINES v OTUTUIZU (2011) LPELR-827(SC), per Rhodes-Vivour,
JSC at page 23, paras. A – D.
Exhibits PW2A, PW3A and PW3B are confessional statements made by the
Defendant at DSS and at EFCC. It is trite that the burden of establishing the
voluntariness of a confessional statement In exhibit PW2A, the Defendant’s
statement made at the DSS, FCT Command on the 2nd of December, 2016, the
Defendant stated as follows:
I Bala Tangalu I am a member of 419 group known as one (1) chance
operating within Abuja metropolis with our base at Dape Village. On the 4th
of July, 2016 I and other members of the said group went out in a car
picking unsuspecting passengers. On that fateful day inside the vehicle one
of us claimed that he stole his master’s money but that the money was
charmed, that if they are interested in the money that they could all go to
a native doctor to remove the charm, so they can share the money within
themselves. They drove to our shrine located at Dape along Karimu –
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