Adula Sampson is a staff of the Legal Aid Council, Akwa Ibom State. He defended Uduak Frank Akpan, the convicted killer of the Akwa Ibom job seeker, Iniobong Umoren while the case lasted at an Uyo High court.
In this telephone interview with TNN, Samson spoke on his sad experiences and how his life and that of his family was threatened because he accepted to defend the killer.
Excerpts:
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You defended the convicted Uduak Frank?
Yes.
Can you recall the ups and downs of that trial, can you recall the sad experiences you had defending him, can you recall the not- too- pleasant moments while you were with him?
Well, the fact is that, from this trial, it’s very obvious that a lot of us Nigerians seems not to really understand how our criminal justice system works. No doubt, from most persons, they were of the view that such person was not supposed to be defended at all, but they fail to understand that by virtue of our laws and the way the criminal justice system works, there is no way the court can reach a conclusion without him being defended. What the law provides is that an accused person or a defendant who is standing trial for a capital offense such as the one that the convict was standing trial, must be represented by counsel; he must be represented by a lawyer, in the absence of which the trial will be stopped. He cannot defend himself, and even if he decides to enter a plea of guilty, the law still requires that the court should enter a plea of not guilty for him, because before that maximum punishment will be handed down on an accused person, the facts must be presented to the satisfaction of the judge and in our criminal jurisprudence, an accused person is not expected to prove his innocence, rather, it’s the prosecution that is expected to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt. So when we have a situation where an accused person or a defendant decides to plead guilty to an offense that carries capital punishment and the prosecution fails for one reason or the other to lead credible facts to prove that allegation, the court will be left with no option but to discharge and acquit the defendant. So the difficulties I had was the public view, comments, where at a point, my person to the extent that of my family was dragged into it for defending him and I was solely doing my work, because by virtue of my office, that is why our agency was created, to stand in for such persons that do not have the financial wherewithal or the ability to get the services of a private legal practitioner. So, when the court is confronted with such situation, most often, they refer it to legal aid council to represent such accused person. So that is just it.
How were you brought into the matter?
I was in court one day for a different matter, the same criminal court, when the matter came up that first time for arraignment. I never knew that it was even the case; so when the matter was called up an appearance was entered for the father then, because then they have not brought in the sister. So there was no legal representation for him. It was at that point that the court, knowing that I was in court, now called on me to represent the defendant, and in any case, even if I was not in court and no lawyer was ready to take it up, the court would have still written to my office for us to take up the defence of the defendant as it’s done in most other cases.
Which means it was actually a pro bono case that you handled for him?
A complete pro bono, not even five naira was given from any quarters; it was a pro bono case from the beginning to the end.
I’m sure because you were his lawyer, you were able to interface with him closely. What were the deep things, his very deep secrets, the truth that he told you about that case?
Well, to be honest with you, to be honest with you, I never delved deeply into the facts of the case with him, because I already have an idea of what the fact was all about based on the proof of evidence and all the rest. So, I was solely concerned about the procedure that will be adopted. In his view, he said that he never made those confessional statements and because I was defending him, I had to believe him; and when your client has told you notwithstanding the fact that I was not paid, I was under a duty, under an obligation to give him the best of defense that is available to him. So, when he said he never made those statements, I had to object to the admissibility of the statement and every other materials too that requires objection, even though at a point the court was not very comfortable with the fact that I was objecting to it, but I stood my ground and said that I have to do this work, even though it was the court that appointed me. At that point, I was representing him so I have to do according to what he has said, I wasn’t there. So if he told me that he never made those statements voluntarily, I have no reason not to believe him, so upon the court conducting trial within trial, the statements were eventually admitted and in the court judgement, they made references and placed weight in some of the contents of the confessional statement. So, as to whether he did it or not, the procedures and the rest, I never delved into that because all those procedures were already contained in the proof of evidence.
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When that matter started, he actually pleaded guilty, much later he said he wasn’t guilty again, what really happened?
What happened was that, if you follow the matter critically, on the very first day that he pleaded guilty, the court made a comment that having pleaded guilty that they should take a date for review of facts and I said no, that because of the nature of the offense what the law provides is that if a defendant pleads guilty, the court is enjoined to enter a plea of not guilty for him, which the court agreed with me and adjourned the matter for hearing. As I said earlier, that it was the court that assigned the matter to me, that was the very first time in court, I’ve never had opportunity of meeting with him or any of the family members before that day that he was brought to court for arraignment before the former judge. So, after the plea of that day, I now visited him in prison, when he told me that he will like to change his plea from guilty to not guilty and I explained to him that there is no need for that, that even though you pleaded guilty that what the court recorded for you was a plea of not guilty as required by the law. So there is no need for that, we left it at that and carried out other general interviews, so when the matter started de novo, naturally, I knew that he needs no body to advise him or to tell him to do that which is already in his mind, so that was exactly what transpired to the best of my knowledge.
So now that judgement has been passed, are you planning to appeal?
The issue of appeal is not within my discretion, or is not within me to decide whether to appeal or not. He is the convict, if he wants to appeal against the judgement he is the one that will decide and not me, I have no interest in the case. I have defended him at the high court to the end. So if he is not satisfied with the judgement, he will have to indicate that he is not satisfied with the judgment then if there is an avenue to appeal against the judgement, that can be done. I mustn’t be the one to handle the appeal.
Okay, but you have not been appeal to speak with him between the time he was sentenced and now?
No, I’ve not.
And the family has not also spoken with you whether you should appeal or not.
I’ve not even been communicating with the family. My communication mostly is with him and maybe those that were in custody then; the father and the sister, but since all of them are there, none of the family members have contacted me in that regard.
Are you planning to visit him in prison?
If my work schedule should permit me, because to be honest with you the work schedule now is so tight; it’s just one of so many cases that we are handling, we have cases in court, we have so many final written addresses to write. So if it will be possible for me to visit him and others in prison before the vacation, I will.
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Okay, what window does he have for appeal before execution?
Well, unfortunately, you know today in Nigeria the issue of execution is one issue. People that are being convicted to death by hanging, are not normally executed as supposed to be, rather they are placed on death row in perpetuity, pending when they will get old and die in the process. So, ordinarily, he is supposed to have 90 days within which to appeal, maybe 30 days to enter his notice of appeal.
So, after the 90 days and he has not appealed what happens?
He will be there, he will be placed on death row, like most of the persons that have been convicted to death by hanging, that’s the fate that awaits him now.
I understand there are no hangmen in Akwa Ibom.
Not just Akwa Ibom, Akwa Ibom ordinarily is not a facility that is made to accommodate lifers, or those that are on death row. There are some specific prisons or correctional centres across the federation that normally host those categories of convicts, if I am not mistaken, the correctional centre will have more on that but I know Port Harcourt is one, it’s like Kaduna is another one.
So, they may move him to Port Harcourt, abi?
Yes, very likely. It’s like there is another one in Borno too if I am not mistaken. So they may move him to any of those facilities, not necessarily Port Harcourt, though Port Harcourt is the nearest, they may decide, it is the discretion of the correctional centre to take him to whatever facility that they want to keep him.
Can the governor sign for his execution after the 90 days if there is no appeal or will he need to wait until there is an appeal maybe up to the Supreme Court before he can sign for his execution?
As I said, this is a final judgement, he has 30 days within which to file his notice of appeal. Once that notice of appeal is filed, it’s an indication that he intends to appeal against the judgment, and if that is done, normally, the proper thing to do is to wait for him to exhaust all his rights of appeal up to Supreme Court before execution; though in the past, we’ve had instances where, while convicts are waiting to exhaust their right of appeal, they were executed. For now, the proper thing to do is to wait for him to exhaust all his rights of appeal before execution but as I said earlier, there is nothing like execution anywhere as at today.
How did you feel when the court sentenced him to death by hanging?
I received it with mixed feelings; mixed feeling in the sense that I was sad to the extent that the society has failed him, his family in my view, is possible has also failed him. That is a very young man of 21 years, 20 years as at the time he committed the offense, 21 years now; that is super intelligent. When you listen to him, you will know that this is supposed to be a material that will be properly harnessed, that can be used to contribute to the growth and development of our country Nigeria. But unfortunately, because of lack of proper guidance, he has channeled his knowledge and intellect to something negative which has landed him in this, a road of no return. I was sad that our youths will be allowed to be passing through all these, even though it is not an excuse that the system and the society failed you for you to indulge in one crime or the other, but on the other way round too, it also serve as a lesson to those out there that feels that you can indulge in one form of crime or criminality and go scot free. There is this general belief that when you commit a crime or an offense and you get the services of a good lawyer, he can defend you and turn white to black or to frustrate the course of justice. So, for those out there that may be having such thing in mind will also know that rightly or wrongly, such fate may befall them. So the judgement was received with mixed feelings.
