HOW TO PLEAD INSANITY

HOW TO PLEAD INSANITY


credits-cartoonstock.com

I recall how as law
students, my friends and I always shared a joke about insanity being the best
defence to a criminal charge, especially as it related to crimes of passion like
when you catch another man on your wife
. For instance, I read about a
father who committed murder because a drunk driver drove into his 2 sons
killing them instantly. According to the report, the man whose sons had been
pushing his car from behind after it broke down along the highway just alighted
from the car, saw the carnage, went home, got a gun and shot the drunk driver. The
Father was however let go on the legal grounds that he was mad temporarily
insane when he shot the driver.

Boy o boy, I haven’t
read about that happening in Nigeria before, have you? Please share if you
have. Anyway, don’t think the defence of insanity is an automatic “get-me-out-of-jail”
card. No way and here is actually how it really works. You see, everyone is
presumed to be of sound mind at any time which comes in question, until the
contrary is proved (Section 27, Criminal
Code
). So the burden is on the accused to prove that he is/was mad or
insane at the material time.
credits – bible.ca
The law says a
person is not criminally responsible for an act if at the time of doing such
act, he is in such a state of mental disease or natural mental infirmity as to
deprive him of capacity to understand what he is doing or to control his
actions. However people who suffer from delusions do not come under this
category (Section 28, Criminal Code and
Section 51, Penal code
). So it’s better to say they are were following you
from the village and using a remote to control your movements rather than I
heard a voice telling me to shoot
.
Also note that you
don’t prove insanity just by word of mouth, one has to establish facts such as:
evidence of past history of the accused; evidence of conduct of the accused
after committing the offence; evidence from prison officials who had the
accused in custody; medical evidence; evidence showing that insanity is an
o`gun idile
runs in the family and evidence of relatives with similar
behaviour.
So the plea of insanity
is not an easy way out of trouble as my friends and I thought, the accused
person may still be convicted for culpable homicide and may just be ordered to
spend his days in Yaba Left psychiatric hospital taking lagatin
injections all day
.  
Adedunmade Onibokun, Esq
@adedunmade
dunmadeo@yahoo.com 
PENALTY FOR SECRET CULT MEMBERS

PENALTY FOR SECRET CULT MEMBERS


My first experience
with unlawful societies was in the University, where I got to hear about and
see the activities of cultists our school prefects. Let’s just say, those
experiences made me stay away from them. Unlawful societies are not social
clubs or organizations as they usually have more sinister motives behind their
formation.
The Nigerian Criminal
Code Act defines a society to include any combination of ten or more persons
whether the society is known by any name or not. Please refer to Section 62 (1)
of the Act.  The Act goes further to
describe unlawful societies as any society formed for any of the following
purposes:

  • Levying war or
    encouraging or assisting any person to levy war on the Govt or the inhabitants
    of any part of Nigeria;
  • Killing or injuring
    or encouraging the killing or injuring of any person, clearly Boko Haram falls
    into this category;
  • Destroying or
    injuring or encouraging the destruction or injuring of any property; or
  • Subverting or promoting
    the subversion of the Govt or of its officials; or
  • Committing to
    inciting to acts of violence or intimidation; or
  • Interfering with, or
    resisting, or encouraging interference with or resistance to the administration
    of the law; or
  • Disturbing or
    encouraging the disturbance of peace and order in any part of Nigeria; or
  • If declared by an
    order of the President to be a society dangerous to the good government of
    Nigeria or of any part thereof.
Thus if your organization or an organization you intend to belong to is involved in any of
the activities mentioned above, it’s important to stay away from such an organization.
It should be noted that anyone who manages or assists in managing an unlawful
society is guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment for seven years. Also
anyone who is a member of an unlawful society or allows its members to meet on
its property is also guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three
years.  
Please read and
share with others who you know may be members of unlawful societies.
Adedunmade Onibokun
@adedunmade

HOW TO BE AN ACCESORY TO CRIME

HOW TO BE AN ACCESORY TO CRIME


 

Credits-Google

Imagine a scenario where your friend has nuked the whole
Lagos state shoreline
committed an offence and he/she leads the security
service to you
runs to you for help. What you do at that point determines
if you are a good friend or not will be held to be an accessory after
the fact .i.e. you aided or took part in some act that aided your friend in
carrying out that offence or even helping them escape the law. Question is, how
does one know if they are accessories to a crime? 

There are 3 basic types of offences, namely, felonies,
misdemeanours, and simple offences. 
A felony is any offence which is declared by law to be a
felony, or is punishable, without proof of previous conviction, with death or
with imprisonment for three years or more. Examples of offences which are
felonies include: fraudulently collecting 20 billion dollars from Dangote
armed robbery, rape, murder, treason etc. By virtue of Section 519 of the
Criminal code, any person who becomes an accessory after the fact to a felony
is guilty of a felony and if no punishment is provided such person is liable to
imprisonment for 2years. This means if you aid any person who commits a felony
after he has committed that felony, you are as guilty as the offender is. 
 

Credits – Google

A misdemeanour is any offence which is declared by law to be
a misdemeanour, or is punishable by imprisonment for not less than 6 months,
but less than three years. Examples are offences relating to witchcraft and
juju #Edo-Airway-Things. Section 520 of the Criminal Code says that any
person who is an accessory to a misdemeanour is guilty of that misdemeanour and
liable to a punishment equal to one-half of the greatest punishment to which the
principal offender is liable on conviction. So let’s say, your friend the main vandamme
in the film
culprit will be liable to 3 years in jail for the offence he
committed, the accessory will be liable to one-half of that. 
All, offences other than felonies and misdemeanours, are
simple offences. E.g. to disturb a religious worship. Any person who becomes an
accessory after the fact to simple offence is guilty of a simple offence, and
is liable to a punishment equal to one-half of the greatest punishment to which
the principal offender is liable on conviction. This is the same as above. 
So get informed and let all your friends and family be
informed as well. Don’t go around being an accessory after the fact to a crime.
Adedunmade Onibokun Esq,
@adedunmade