The substance of the case as presented by the prosecution is that the appellant under the pretext that his motor cycle had broken down went to the house of P.W. 2, Doctor Gbarade, a motor cycle mechanic on the 29th July, 1984 at about 8.00p.m and invited him out to repair it. Unsuspectingly, p.w.2 assembled his tools and followed the appellant. Some 200 yards from the house of p.w.2, the appellant accused him of befriending the appellant's girlfriend. P.W.2, manhandled him and slapped his face. Inspite of the denial, the appellant further stabbed p.w.2 in his chest with a knife whereupon p.w.2, raised an alarm which attracted the attention of his deceased sister, Mayii Topie. As soon as the deceased rushed out to see what was happening, the appellant turned on her and stabbed her also in the chest and ran away. P.W.2, thereafter, fell down unconscious but the deceased died on the spot. The matter was reported to the police.

The appellant in his own defence denied stabbing or killing the deceased. He also denied stabbing P.W.2 or any other person. He never went to the house P.W.2 even see the deceased on the fateful day. According to the appellant, he was riding his bicycle to Bionu village to see his girl friend at about 8.00p.m. on the material date. On the way at a round-about, he ran into a crowd that neither dispersed nor gave him free passage even though he ran his bell. The crowd asked whom he was. He called his name but they retorted by saying he had come again to carry his girl friend. The crowd attacked and stabbed him with a dagger. In the course of beating him, he pulled out his pen knife. P.W.2 tried to recover the knife from him but was injured in the process. The appellant escaped to the police station to make a report. He was at the station when P.W.3 came to report the incident.

The learned trial Judge, Ichoku J. after a meticulous and painstaking review of the evidence on the 11th April, 1988 found the appellant guilty of murder as charged. He was accordingly convicted and sentenced to death by hanging.

Dissatisfied with this judgment of the trial court, the appellant appealed to the court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division, against his conviction and sentence. On the 25th January, 1991 the court of appeal unanimously dismissed the appeal and affirmed the conviction and sentence passed on the appellant by the trial court. It is against that judgment of the lower court that the appellant has now further appealed to this court.