The trial judge in the case of a Chinese national, Mr Frank Geng Qauron who allegedly murdered his girlfriend Ummukhulsum Sani Buhari aka Ummita, Justice Sunusi Ado Ma’aji, has closed the hearing of the prosecution counsel and adjourned the case to December 23, 2022.
Before the closure of the hearing, Quarong accused the state counsel of tendering a fake verbal autopsy about the deceased before the court.
At the resumed hearing of the matter before the Kano High Court yesterday, the defence counsel, Barrister Muhammad Dan-Azumi said, the evidence tendered as verbal autopsy certifying the death of the victim by Murtala Muhammad Specialists Hospital in Kano which the Court admits as exhibit D is questionable in its entirety.
He argued that the document is not an original copy of the report being obtained and tendered in black and white and on the letter headed paper from the hospital.
He said, the report is coming 90 days after the said incident happened which he tried to obtain earlier but there was no response from the hospital till date.
Earlier, the court had begun proceedings with the hearing of the last prosecution witness, Police Constable, Aminu Halilu attached to Dorayi Babba Police division.
He narrated how the incident happened, the police involvement and the release of the corpse to the victim’s relatives for burial.
Halilu said after handing over the corpse for burial, he came back to the suspect who was at the station and took note of his own side of the story.
“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 defendant) called him through the phone but he did not come up for a few hours.
“Later, he permitted me to take his statement in the presence of his relatives. He started narrating what happened between them from the day they met in 2019 up to 16th September, 2022.
“After I read to him, he understood and signed. After 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 as 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 and later 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 (CID) for further investigation.
The prosecution counsel led by the state Director, Public Prosecution, Aisha Muhammad had earlier tendered an evidence statement of the suspect and the court admitted it as exhibit C which the police constable recognised but the defendant denied and objected to the statement.
He said he was forced to make the statement, threatened and pushed into a cell handcuffed.
Therefore, the defence counsel called for trial-within-trial but the judge argued that it was abolished in the ACJL relying on section 38 (7) of the ACJL thereby admitting the statement as exhibit C.
