VERACITY TEST OF CONFESSIONAL STATEMENT- OBLIGATORY PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE

Abstract

A Court is entitled to convict based on a confessional statement. However, this is subject to many obligatory procedural rituals one of which is that if the confession is voluntary, the Court must, in addition, conduct the veracity test to seek any other evidence even if slight, of circumstances which make it probable that the confession is true. Deploying the doctrinal research method, extant statutory provisions and nascent judicial decisions especially those handed down by both the apex Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal were critically examined to accentuate that conduct of veracity test is not a hollow ritual because where conviction is based solely on confessional statement, failure, refusal or neglect to carry out the veracity test by the trial Court can lead to disastrous consequences for the trial. Consequently, it was suggested among other things that a trial Court should feel compelled to carry out the veracity test of a confessional statement since confessional statement is the worst form of incriminating evidence.