THE PROPRIETY OF ADMISSIBILITY OF IMPROPERLY OBTAINED EVIDENCE IN CRIMINAL TRIALS IN NIGERIA

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ABSTRACT

The rules relating to the admissibility of illegally obtained evidence in a criminal proceeding is a matter of court discretion; it question of whether this kind of evidence ought to be rejected because it was obtained illegally, that is, by a crime, a tort, or a breach of the constitution or other laws, involves a different choice between two competing policies in support, it is argued that since its reliability is not affected by the manner it was obtained it ought to be rejected since the consequence would often bet that a guilty person would be acquitted on the other hand. It is argued that to admit such evidence involves the tacit encouragement of improper practices by the authorities, and such practices constitute at least as great evil as the occasional accused guaranteed by the constitution of Nigeria it is therefore recommended that the court in exercising its discretionary power should adopt an exclusionary rule to execute evidence methodology adopted in this work is a comparative analysis of other jurisdiction. Finally a panacea is proposed which is aimed at curing the defect in the Nigeria law on the admissibility of illegally obtained evidence in Nigeria with reference to relevant materials.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of the Study

The sensitivity as to the nature of the subject matter is my motivation, and inspiration to write on the subject, this is because any misapplication or undue consideration of illegally obtained evidence amount to injustice to the accused

1.2       Statement of Problem

The problem which is intended to be tackled by writing on this topic or subject include

  1. a) Infringement of the right of the accused (fundamental rights)
  2. b) The injustice that will be meted out to the accused.
  3. c) Violation of government officials in obtaining evidence

In undertaking the study, the writer kept the following pertinent questions at the back of his mind:

  • What is the end of justice in criminal matters?
  • Will it be dependent on application of the doctrine of technical issues?
  • Will any harm come to an accused person, by the admissibility of improperly obtained evidence in criminal trial

1.3       Objective of the Study

The objectives of this study include;

  • Whether it is proper to admit illegally obtained evidence.
  • Whether the admissibility of the illegally or improperly obtained evidence will serve the cause of law (which is to do justice)

1.4       Scope of the Study

For the purpose of this research, the scope of the study will include, Nigeria certain West Africa states and some common law countries and also some European countries will be considered to compare and contrast with our own jurisprudence. In order to recommend better solutions. The relevance of this research cannot be over emphasized. Law as a means of social control deals with humans and cases of that are criminal in nature, evidence must be adduced, this research looks at the means of obtaining this evidence and whether it is right to admit such evidence.

1.5       Research Question

This study aims at answering the following research question namely:

  1. a) What is the end of justice in criminal matters, will it be dependent on application of the doctrine of technical issues? To address this, a brief definition of justice is required.[1] The concept of justice differs in every culture in early theory of justice was set out by the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato in his work (The Republic) advocates of divine command theory argue that justice issues from God.

In a world where people are inter connected but they disagree, institutions are required to instantiate ideals of justice these institutions may be justified by their approximate institution of justice or they may be deeply unjust when compared with ideal standard consider the institution of slavery. Justice is an ideal the world fails to live up to sometimes due to deliberate opposition to justice despite understanding, which could be disastrous; the question of institution justice raises issues of Procedure, Codification and Interpretation. Although there are different and various definition of justice. (this research is more concerned with justice as regards to law that is legal justice criminal matter- this is the aspects of our jurisprudence that deals with crime in order to maintain harmony in the states. actions are usually instituted by the state in criminal matter the aim of this is to do justice and to see that justice is done.

In summary the aim of law is to do justice. Justice should not be sacrificed because of technicality

  1. b) Will justice be met in spite of the admissibility of improperly obtained evidence?
  2. c) Will any harm come to an accused person, by the admissibility of improperly obtained evidence in criminal trial?

[1] Justice is the legal or philosophical theory by which fairness is administered. (Definition of justice) accessed 12th may 2017 (www.meriam Webster.com)

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