The confessional statement made by Abdulmalik Tanko, the suspected killer of five-year-old Hanifa Abubakar, was not made under duress as earlier alleged by the defendant.
Justice Usman Na’abba of the Kano State High Court who made the declaration, thereafter admitted the statement as an exhibit in the ongoing culpable homicide trial.
Tanko had said the confessional statements he purportedly made by and tendered by the prosecution were obtained from him by the police under duress.
As a result, the court ordered a trial within trial to determine the admissibility or not of the said confessional statement.
Tanko testified in the trial within trial that investigators assaulted him and threatened to kill him if he did not admit to the offence while the third defendant, Fatima Jibrin also alleged that she saw how electric devices were used to assault the male defendants, adding that she was not beaten but threatened by the police.
But the police investigators denied the allegations, saying the statements were obtained in the best standards prescribed by international best practices.
In his ruling, the judge held that the defendant did not adequately challenge the evidence of police investigators that the evidence was recorded without any use of force or threat or duress.
The judge said the evidence of the first two prosecution witnesses were credible.
“I am of the conclusive opinion that the two statements of the two defendants were made voluntarily and are hereby admitted in evidence,” the judge held.
As at the time of filing this report (10:55am), the main trial has continued.
