Ahungur v. State [2019] 2 NWLR (Pt. 1657) 393 at 404, paras. F-G, per Galinje, JSC:

“In Edache v. The Queen (1962) NRNLR 56, (1962) 1 SCNLR 122, this Court held that circumstances could exist when words alone could give rise to provocation, grave enough to deprive an offender power of self-control. But whether words alone can give rise to provocation will depend on the circumstances of the case.”

Notes:

Section 318 of the Criminal Code provides that where a person kills another in circumstances that ought to constitute murder, the person would be guilty of manslaughter instead, if (s)he can prove provocation. The provocation must be grave and sudden and the person must have lost self-control (both actual and reasonable) and (s)he must have acted in the heat of passion. What makes manslaughter attractive to a defendant in murder cases is that it is capable of reducing an otherwise death sentence to life imprisonment. Provocation itself is defined as “something such as words or actions that affect a person’s reason and self-control, especially causing the person to commit a crime impulsively.” Galinje, JSC.

In this case, the Supreme Court was called upon to determine whether the words used by the deceased was capable of provoking the Appellant (to an extent as to serve as a defence) thereby making the Appellant to kill the deceased. The facts of the case are that the Appellant had warned the deceased (Prince Ade Adedoyin) on several occasions to stay away from a woman (Felicia Achiaga) the Appellant lived with and called his wife. (The evidence led however showed that Felicia was only the Appellant’s girlfriend). On this fateful day, the Appellant visited Felicia’s shop where she sold drinks and found the deceased there. He greeted the deceased and asked him that had he not warned him to stay away from his “wife”. The deceased replied that Felicia was now his. Angered, the Appellant brought out his cutlass and cut off his two hands. (Whoa!!!) The deceased consequently died. The Appellant’s defence was provocation pursuant to Section 318 of the Criminal Code. His conviction by the trial Court for murder was upheld by the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court was of the view that the statement by the deceased that Felicia Achiaga was now his was not capable of engendering provocation so grave and sudden to deprive the Appellant the power of self-control. The Court also held that considering the Appellant’s background (being an ex-military man with other work experience before he retired into farming), the Appellant was not a typical peasant farmer and an average African who had not been so exposed to a civilised way of life. What is more? The Court concluded that the Appellant had long made up his mind to kill the deceased and resolve their sexually motivated disagreement once and for all.

The Supreme Court also took time to restate the all-important principle clearly thus:

“For where the provocation inspires the actual intention to kill or to inflict grievous bodily harm, the doctrine that provocation may reduce murder to manslaughter seldom applies. Only one very special exception has been recognised and that is the actual finding of a spouse in the act of adultery.”

That is not all. Even in the case of finding a spouse in the actual act of adultery, an act causing the death of the spouse’s ‘partner in crime’ must be immediate. In explaining this, his Lordship, Galinje, JSC relied on the case of Queen v. Ngba Haaba (1964) NNLR 14 where the appellant there found the deceased with his wife in a room and went and called his brother to witness what he had seen, before he attacked and killed him. It was held that the appellant did not immediately lose his self-control, since he had the time to call his brother to see what had happened.

In effect, had it been the Appellant in the instant case caught ‘his wife’, Felicia, red-handed committing adultery with the deceased and the deceased further uttered the words that Felicia was now his, these might have very well aided his reliance on the defence of provocation.