This article is aimed at exploring the Position of the Law on No Case Submission which is one of the options available to the Defence when the prosecution has closed its case. The prosecution is deemed to have closed its case when it has called its last witness or tendered the last evidence. There are basically three options available to the Defence are the are as follows:
1. He may make a No Case Submission. See Section 302 Administration of Criminal Justice Act and Section 239 of Administration of Criminal Justice Law
2. He may rest his case on the prosecution’s case.
3. He may choose to enter into his own Defence.
However, for the purpose of this article, we shall concentrate on the Defence of No Case Submission.
Meaning of No Case Submission
A submission of No Case simply means “Telling the Court that the Prosecution has not made any case against you”. In other words, there is no admissible evidence linking the accused person in anyway with the commission of the offence with which he had been charged with. Thus, having not linked the accused to the commission of the offence, the accused need not start giving evidence to prove his innocent. See the Case of IGP V. SONOMA (2021) LPELR-53381(SC).
When a defendant/accused makes a No Case Submission the implication is that the accused/defendant is alleging that the prosecution has failed to establish any case for him to answer; therefore there is no need for him to open his Defence.
The beautiful thing is that the Submission of No Case can be made by the Defence or the Court on its own volition (Suo moto) at the close of the prosecution’s case where a prima facie case has not been established against the accused. (Refers Dabor & Anor. v. Sate (1977) 5 SC p.197 @ 209).
When is the Best time to make a No Case Submission?
Below are the circumstances that will influence the decision of the Defence to make A submission of No Case:
1. When the prosecution has failed to prove an essential element of the each alleged offence; (for instance; penetration in rape)
2. When the evidence adduced by the Prosecution has been so discredited during cross-examination and rendered unreliable;
3. When the evidence of the prosecution is so manifestly weak that no reasonable Tribunal or Court can safely convict upon it-See EMEDO & ORS v. STATE (2002) LPELR-1123(SC) & Ibeziako v. C.O.P (1963) 1 All NLR 61; (1963) I SCNLR 99.
4. Where there is no evidence linking the accused with the commission of the offence charged.
Duty of the Court when a No Case Submission is made by the Defence
When the Accused makes a Submission of No Case, the Court is expected to make a ruling on the either upholding it or overruling it. Note however, that the Court must allow the Prosecution to reply the Submission of No Case raised by the Accused; failure of which will vitiate the proceedings.
NOTE the following Points on Ruling:
A. Where the court is overruling a Submission of No Case, the ruling must be brief so that the Judge will not fetter his discretion. This means that the Court should not go into the facts of the case. The Court should only look at the evidence and give his ruling. See BELLO v. STATE (1966) LPELR-25291(SC). Note also that It is not the length of a ruling per se that determines that a judge has fettered his discretion, rather it is the contents of the ruling; See also Atano v. Attorney-General Bendel State (1988) 2 NWLR (Pt. 75) 201
B. Where the Court is upholding the No case submission, he should give sufficient reasons why he believes that the Defendant has no case to answer. See Emedo v State (Supra)
What Happens When No Case Submission is Upheld by the Court
1. In the South (including Lagos): If a Submission of No Case is rightly upheld, it is a discharge on the merits and the accused will be acquitted and cannot be tried again for that offence. See the Following Authorities IGP v. Marke; Nwali v. IGP; Emedo v. State; Section 239(1) Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State and Emedo vs. State (supra)
2. In the North (including FCT)-This depends on the court
a. High Court- it is a discharge on the merit and therefore an acquittal; The accused cannot be tried again for that offence;
b. Magistrate’s Court (north)–If it is a Magistrate court in the North that upheld a Submission of No Case , it is a DISCHARGE but not on the MERITS. This means that the accused can be tried again for the same offence.
Note: The Prosecution has the Right to Appeal against the ruling.
What Happens When No Case Submission is Overrules by the Court
Where the Court overrules a Submission of No Case, (i.e. the court disagreed with the defendant or accused saying he has no case to answer);
a. The accused will be called upon to enter his Defence.
b. Any subsequent evidence adduced before the court by the accused which is incriminating him will be admitted and the court may convict him upon it: Chuka v State; Okoro v State
Note: The Defence has the Right to Appeal against the ruling.
The Position of the Law on what has to be considered in a Submission of No Case
Recall that No Case Submission is a submission that there is no prima facie case against the Accused. The question of deciding what constitute a prima facie case is the main question that the Court must resolved in either upholding or Overruling a Submission of No Case.
In UZOAGBA & amp; ANOR VS. COP (2012) LPELR – 15525 (SC), the Supreme Court gave the meaning of prima facie and held thus:
“A prima facie case therefore means that the prosecution’s case against an accused person has raised some serious questions linking the accused person to the crime and so calling for some explanation from the accused person and which only the accused person from his personal knowledge can give…”
In the case of ABOGEDE v. STATE (1996) LPELR-45(SC), the Supreme Court gave a guiding principle in deciding a No Case Submission as follows:
“When a Court is giving consideration to a submission of no-case, it is not necessary at that stage of the trial for the learned trial Judge to determine if the evidence is sufficient to justify a conviction. The trial Court only has to be satisfied that there is a prima facie case requiring at least some explanation from the accused person.”
Similarly, in FRN v. ADEMOLA (2021) LPELR-52831(CA) Per MOHAMMED BABA IDRIS, JCA (Pp 74 – 80 Paras B – A) the Court of Appeal held thus: “To my understanding, when a no case submission is made, the trial Court is called on to look at the oral and documentary evidence analytically, to detect whether the evidence adduced by the prosecution implicates the defendant to warrant him putting in his defence. Essentially, when a Court is faced with a no case submission, it must look to see if a prima facie case has been established.”
The Settled Position of the Law
From the above authorities, the settled position of the law is that prima facie case does not mean proof guilt of the Accused. The only consideration is that the Prosecution has been able to link the Accused to the Crime either through concrete or circumstantial evidence. Once there appears to be questions emanating from the presentation of the prosecution case in which can only be answered by the accused, then the Court MUST overrule a Submission of No case and call the Defence to open her case.
In essence, where there are compelling as to facts calling for some explanation from the accused person and which only the accused person from his personal knowledge can give, it suffices. See UZOAGBA & amp; ANOR VS. COP (2012) LPELR – 15525 (SC).
CONCLUSION
I sincerely hope that this article has be expository enough on the concept of Submission of No Case.
As a bonus, I have decided to include a REPLY to a NO CASE SUBMISSION i made on when while I prosecuting a criminal case. The court upheld my argument and dismissed the Submission of No Case as made by the Defence team.
