{"id":2775,"date":"2026-07-30T23:09:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=2775"},"modified":"2026-07-30T23:09:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:09:53","slug":"no-victim-no-weapon-no-conviction-delta-court-frees-two-men-in-attempted-murder-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=2775","title":{"rendered":"No Victim, No Weapon, No Conviction: Delta Court Frees Two Men In Attempted Murder Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Precious Onyia<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delta State High Court has discharged and acquitted two men who stood trial for attempted murder, ruling that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt after the alleged victim and other key witnesses never appeared in court to testify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Samuel I. Okeleke, delivering judgment on Thursday, 14th May 2026, at the Abraka Judicial Division, freed Mobo Iwhiwhu and Oghenemudiakvwe Iroroakpeyere of a one-count charge under Section 320(1) of Delta State’s Criminal Code Law, which the two had denied since their arraignment in June 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The men were accused of attacking one Barau Umaru with a sharp object at Ugbokoro, Hausa Quarters, Abraka, in January 2024, leaving him with a deep stab wound to the chest and injuries to his hands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the prosecution’s narrative, the victim was found lying in a pool of blood behind a store and was rushed first to the General Hospital in Abraka, then to Eku Teaching Hospital, and finally to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital for further treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the case, built almost entirely on the testimony of a single police investigator, began unravelling under cross-examination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspector Asuquo Samuel, the prosecution’s only witness, admitted he was not present when the attack happened and had never personally seen the knife allegedly used, which was never recovered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He conceded he did not even know its size or colour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also disclosed that a different man, Godstime Godwin, had initially been arrested based on the victim’s early description, before being released the following day once fresh information implicated Iwhiwhu instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Okeleke noted that neither the victim nor the man who first reported the incident, Jadi Umaru, ever appeared before the court to testify, despite the prosecution’s claims that several people witnessed the assault. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No medical doctor was called, and no photographs, medical reports, or documentary evidence were tendered to confirm the nature or severity of the injuries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judge described this gap as troubling, given that medical evidence is ordinarily central to establishing the seriousness of an injury and whether it points to an intention to kill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He observed that the officer’s account, however detailed, was ultimately investigative and derivative in nature, rather than firsthand knowledge of what actually transpired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What emerges from the totality of the evidence is suspicion arising from an alleged fight involving several persons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But suspicion, no matter how strong, cannot ground a criminal conviction,” the judge held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both defendants had given written statements to police, which were admitted into evidence after a “trial-within-trial” \u2014 a separate hearing the court held to determine whether Iwhiwhu’s statement was given voluntarily, after his lawyer alleged he had been coerced by police and subjected to duress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The defence called no witness in that mini-trial and led no evidence to support the allegation, which the judge said left the prosecution’s account of a voluntary statement unchallenged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement was accordingly ruled admissible and marked as an exhibit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even so, the court found that neither defendant’s statement amounted to a full confession in the strict legal sense \u2014 both men admitted being present during an altercation involving several people, but each denied inflicting the stab wound himself, with each pointing towards the other as the true culprit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Counsel for the defendants had urged the court to reject what they described as the prosecution’s “cock and bull stories,” arguing the case was built on hearsay and unproven assumptions rather than direct, credible evidence linking either man specifically to the crime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Counsel for the State had countered that the police officer’s evidence, combined with the defendants’ own admissions, was more than sufficient to sustain a conviction, citing the “single witness rule” that allows a conviction on credible testimony alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his ruling, Justice Okeleke invoked the constitutional presumption of innocence, stating that the burden always remains on the prosecution to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, not on the accused to prove innocence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the State failed to establish, with the required certainty, who actually inflicted the injuries, or that either man harboured a clear intention to kill, the charge of attempted murder could not stand.Ejiro Adu Esq. appeared for the State; S.O. Agbede Esq. represented the 1st Defendant, and Tayo Ibrahim Esq. represented the 2nd Defendant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Precious Onyia Delta State High Court has discharged and acquitted two men who stood trial for attempted murder, ruling that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt after the alleged victim and other key witnesses never appeared in court to testify. Justice Samuel I. Okeleke, delivering judgment on Thursday, 14th May […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"iawp_total_views":11,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[31,218],"class_list":["post-2775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abrakametro","category-trendingnews","tag-abraka","tag-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2777,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775\/revisions\/2777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}