The Defence of Alibi

Alibi is an extremely strong defence which postulates  that  the  accused  was  somewhere  other  than  the  locus  criminis  at the time the offense was committed. In its literal sense, the word "alibi" means "elsewhere". This means that pleading a defence of alibi means that a defendant is raising a defence to a criminal charge alleging that he (the defendant) was not at the place at which or where the offence was committed at the time of its alleged commission and so could not have been responsible for it. If the defendant proposes to introduce alibi evidence, details of his alibi should be provided to the prosecution.

 

According  to  the  Supreme  Court  in  Eke  v  State,  Alibi presupposes  that  by  fluke  of  nature,  the  defendant  has  no  possibility of  committing  the  offence  attributed  to  him  as  he  cannot  be  at  two  places  at  the  same  time.

 

 ° The fact that a defendant presents an alibi defense does not change the requirement that the prosecutor must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense also does not have to provide the alibi beyond a reasonable doubt.

 ° If the judge does not believe the alibi defense, the prosecution still must prove all elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

 

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