The defence counsel in the ongoing trial of Ummukulsum Sani Buhari (Ummita) who was allegedly murdered by her Chinese lover, Frank Geng Quarong, has disagreed with the prosecution counsel over the evidence tendered before the court.
At the resumed hearing before a Kano High Court on Wednesday, the defence counsel, Barrister Muhammad Dan-Azumi, said the evidence tendered as verbal autopsy certifying the death of the victim by Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital in Kano which the court admitted as exhibit D was questionable in its entirety.
He argued that the document is not the original copy of the report, adding that it is coming 90 days after the incident happened.
He said he had tried to obtain the document earlier but there was no response from the hospital till date.
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Earlier, the court began proceeding with the hearing of the last prosecution witness, a police constable, Aminu Halilu, attached to Dorayi Babba Police Division.
He narrated how the incident happened, the police involvement in the case, hospital certification and release of the corpse for burial.
Halilu, further explained that after handing over the corpse, he came back to the suspect who was at the station and took his statement.
He said, “I came back to the police station where I met Mr Frank. I asked him to invite his relatives but he said they are in China but he will call a friend who worked at BBY Textile company and he (the dependent) called him through the phone but he did not come up for a few hours.
“Later on, he permitted me to take his statement in the presence of his relatives. He started narrating what happened between them (he and the victim) from the day they met in 2019 up to 16th September, 2022.
“After, I read to him and he understood, he signed. I took him to my superior, Saifullahi Bello, where he read the statement to him and he accepted what he read to him that was recorded is true.”
He added that he thereafter took the statement of the two witnesses, one Fatima Zubairu and Mustapha and then proceeded to visit the scene of crime at Janbulo quarters of Kano metropolis.
The policeman said the next day, he compiled the case diary and the exhibit given to him (a sharp knife) and transferred the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation.
The prosecution counsel led by the state Director, Public Prosecution, Aisha Muhammad, had earlier tendered the statement of the suspect which the court admitted as Exhibit C.
While the police constable agreed to the statement, the defendant denied and objected to it, saying that he was forced to make the statement, threatened and pushed into a cell handcuffed.
The defence counsel called for trial within trial but the judge, Justice Sanusi Ado Ma’aji, argued that it was abolished in the Administration of Criminal Justice Law relying on Section 38 (7) of the ACJL, thereby admitting the statement as Exhibit C.
Th judge then closed hearing of the prosecution counsel and adjourned the case to December 23, 2023.
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