DEFENCE OF ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE IN THE TRIAL OF POLICE OFFICERS FOR MURDER: ATTITUDES OF NIGERIAN COURTS

Abstract

This study examined the defence of accidental discharge in the trial of police officers for murder. In a murder trial, the law allows the accused person or a police officer standing trial for a murder charge to raise any of the several defences recognized by law which if successfully pleaded may result to his acquittal or may reduce the gravity of punishment from murder to manslaughter. One of such defences, which is the major concern of this paper is the defence of accident. The researcher considered this defence in few Nigerian cases and and examined the judicial attitude in Nigerian courts with respect to defence of accidental discharge in a murder trial. This paper also highlighted the basic things the accused must prove before this defence will avail him under the criminal justice system. The article suggested that temperamental police officers or those officers with volatile character should be flushed from the police force or they should not be allowed to hold guns. This is because every citizen has a right to his life until otherwise ordered by a court of law.