Foundation For Compensation Of ‘prosecution Witnesses’ In Criminal Litigation: Delta State Of Nigeria In Focus

Abstract

The system of adjudication in the law courts of Nigeria is the accusatorial system which is heavily dependent on the availability of witnesses since the courts are umpires. In it, two opposing parties contest their concern or interest before a decision maker who ought to be impartial. Ordinarily, the idea of justice in criminal proceedings usually extends and subsumes three categories of actors, to wit; the state, the perpetrator of the crime (suspect) and the victim of the crime. But in practice, the idea of the state, laden with attendant state officials have inevitably and apparently dominated and overwhelmed the criminal justice and adjudicatory system. By implication, corollary-victims, who will definitely play active role in the process of arraignment and trial, even though exposed to likelihood of risk and usually subjected to suffer injuries such as loss of dignity, monetary loss, subtle threat to life and odium, especially in the course of supporting the state in adjudication, consequent to the offence and/or crime committed, are left unattended. These categories of person are merely regarded as prosecution witnesses. Consequently, it became obvious that the criminal and procedural laws have not made sufficient provisions to cater for the interests of these individuals, victims of crimes, who are used as „witnesses‟ and tools for securing justice for the State, against the backdrop of the saying that justice is a tripartite phenomenon dealing with the State, the accused person and the victim of crime. In the light of the foregoing, the authors argued that the success of the case for the prosecution, whose ultimate standard of proof has always been „beyond reasonable doubt‟ operated to underscore the desirability of the motivation/compensation for prosecution witnesses, especially in Delta state, with an unimaginable topography. The paper therefore maintained the need for a supportive legislation to accommodate the interest and motivation of the "prosecution witnesses.‟