LODONU vs. THE REPUBLIC

The appellant and four others were charged with manslaughter. At the close of the case for the prosecution the trial judge ruled that there was no evidence against the second and the third accused persons and he directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty. The appellant, the fifth accused, and two others (the first and fourth) were accordingly called upon. All of them gave evidence. Their evidence in the main was the same and the gist of their defence was that the deceased had attacked the first and the fourth accused persons in the bush with a cutlass in the course of a search for the deceased and these two persons had struck back in self-defence. The appellant who was also a member of the search party had come on the scene later and had gone to the aid of his friends. It was the contention of all the three accused persons at the trial that whatever injuries were inflicted on the deceased were in self-defence. On this aspect of the defence there was substantial unanimit...