A 24-year-old man, Godwin Banchir, appeared before a Jos High Court on Wednesday, charged with killing his mother. Banchir, according to the prosecutor, Luka Pam, killed his mother for refusing to answer his greetings.
The judge, Justice A. I. Ashom, adjourned the matter to May 30, for hearing, after Pam requested an adjournment to enable him present a vital witness. Pam, of the Plateau State Ministry of Justice, said that the witness, a police personnel, was “unavoidably away on police duties”. The accused person was first arraigned on June 22, 2016 on a one-count charge of culpable homicide, an allegation he had since denied. According to Pam, the accused committed the offence on Jan. 27, 2016 at his home in Fuskar Mata Village, Bassa Local Government Area, in Plateau.
Pam told the court that on the said date, the accused used a stick to hit his mother, one Saratu Banchir, which later resulted in her death. The prosecuting counsel said that the accused had told the police, in a confessional statement, that he killed his mother because he was angry that she did not respond to his greetings. The statement quoted the accused as saying that when he woke up at 6 a.m on the said date, he saw his mother sitting in the compound, while on his way to his farm, and greeted her, but that she did not answer. It further quoted the accused as saying that her silence angered Banchir, who used a stick and the handle of his axe, to beat her until she became unconscious. The prosecution quoted the accused as saying that when he hit his mother on the rib and stomach, she fell down and let out a loud cry which attracted neighbours and family members.
The statement said that Banchir’s uncle, one Godwin, rushed into the compound and took the woman to the hospital for treatment and, on his return, beat up the suspect before handing him over to the police. “The statement indicated that the accused was in the habit of quarreling with his mother anytime he was hungry. “It (statement) also claimed that the woman used to fight her son whenever he fetched water from her room to take his bath,” Pam added. He further quoted the accused as claiming that he did not know that the beating would result in the death of his mother. The prosecutor then told the court that the offence contravened section 221 of the Penal Code, Laws of Northern Nigeria, and was punishable with death, upon conviction.
