By Saio Marrah
Magistrate Mark Ngegba of the Pademba Road Court No.1 has dismissed a no case submission made by lawyers for former Skye Bank Manager, Ikubolaje Nicol and ordered that he stands trial for the alleged murder of Sinnah Kargbo, a former staff of the same bank.
Roland Wright, lead lawyer, told the court on Friday 24th March that the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove that the deceased was strangulated. He argued that the death certificate submitted by the prosecution was not marked as a true certified copy since the author of that document could not testify to identify and attest to the authenticity of the document. He said the veracity of the document could not be tested, because the prosecution chose not to bring the author of the document to court. Wright described the cause of death certificate a mere opinion.
Lawyer Wright said as long as the court cannot confirm the authenticity of the document, it would only mean that court had not been officially informed that someone died. He said should court decide to look at the document, the prosecution witnesses discredited it with the testimony of the nurse who said during cross examination that patients that are taken into the ICU are those who are unconscious. He said four witnesses attested that the deceased was still alive until she was brought to the hospital, which he said corroborates the statement of the accused.
Lawyer Wright submitted that where there is strangulation a person dies between 5 -7 minutes and pointed out that it took more than two hours before the deceased was pronounced dead. He said neither the doctor nor the nurse ever told the court that deceased had injuries.
On the issue of multiple fractures on the head of the victim as recorded in the cause of death certificate, he said the hospital CCTV camera showing the hospital revealed that the deceased wore a white dress, but there was no blood stain on the cloth. He said nobody said she screamed for help on the night of the incident and there was no mention of sexual activity.
The defence lawyer argued that to prove murder, three elements needed to be established – that the person died, that the death was not natural, but a result of another and that the other person as the perpetrator was the accused. He submitted that the second element had not been established because there was no evidence that the act of the accused killed the deceased.
Roland Wright told the court that no evidence connected the accused even by his intention to the offense alleged but that the only evidence before the court was that the accused was in a relationship with the deceased and they were having fun on the night of the incident.
He argued that the prosecution made no attempt to contradict what he called non-objective exhibits including call logs and testimonies that had been presented to the court and that the prosecution did not show that the accused conspired with somebody, while arguing that the core witness of the prosecution corroborated how the deceased had an attack and was rushed to the hospital by the accused. He said the doctor and nurse who attended to the patient had testified to the deceased foaming at the mouth because of excessive fluid in the lungs.
For his part, state prosecutor, J.M. Bockarie, told the court that the defence had a case to answer and that the magistrate did not have the jurisdiction to hear such because he was only doing a preliminary investigation. He said a no case submission could only be heard by a trial court. The prosecution submitted that when evidence is inconsistent, the magistrate should commit the matter for trial in the High Court.
The prosecutor said state witnesses did not say there was a quarrel or a fight, but that all their witnesses said they met the deceased on the floor and they put a spoon in her mouth to prevent her from biting her tongue.
Ikubolaje Nicol faces charges ranging from murder to perverting the course of justice.
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