Plea Of Guilty

By entering a plea of guilty, a defendant is admitting  his/her guilt thereby forfeiting  her right to a trial. Section 218 of the criminal procedure Act (CPA) provides  that if the accused pleads guilty  to any offence  with which he is  charged,  the court shall record  his plea  as nearly as  possible in the words used by him and if satisfied that he  intended to admit the truth of all the essentials of  the offence of which   he had pleaded guilty. The court shall convict him of that offence and pass sentence  upon or make an order against him unless  there shall appear sufficient  cause to the contrary.
For  a court to  convict  on a plea of guilty entered  by the  accused, the following conditions must be  satisfied.
1.  The court must be satisfied  that the ac       cused understands the charge against him.
2.  The court must hear the facts alleged by  the prosecution as constituting the offence charged. The court should ask  the accused if he admits all the facts alleged  by the prosecution.
3.  The court must be satisfied  that the accused      intended  to admit the commission of the of       fence  charged. The plea of the accused must  be an unequivocal  plea of guilty.
4. The facts stated by the prosecution and ad     mitted by the accused must sustain  the charge    against the accused.
5.    When an accused  pleads  guilty  to a capital  offence,   the court must not convict on that plea,  but must  record a plea of not  guilty. Section 187 (2) of the criminal procedure code (CPC) provides that if the  accused pleads guilty, the plea  shall be  recorded  and he may in the discretion of the court be  convicted  thereon, unless the offence is  punishable with death, when  the presiding  judge shall enter a plea of not guilty on behalf of the accused.
Note that a plea of guilt should be reclined from the defendant personality in open court, except where the defendant is a corporation,  in which  case the plea may be  entered with due  authorization by counsel  or a corporate officer. A good example is the case between Pluto property and investment company limited (represented by Friday Davis), Seagate  Property Development  and Investment  Company Limited represented by Agbor Baro), Trans Ocean   property and investment company limited (represented by Dioghowori Fredrick) and Avalon Global  Property Investment Limited  (represented by Tairo Ebenizer) And Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In the above case the companies pleaded guilty to laundering   $15,591,700 (about 5 billion naira). These  companies were arraigned  along with a lawyer  Amajuoyi Briggs and a  banker, Adedamola Bolodeoku. The  both pleaded  not guilty  to a 17 count charge brought against them by EFCC. Also  through their   lawyers, the urged the court to set aside the guilty plea entered  on the “firms” behalf by their  representatives. This  contention  was on the premise that those  who pleaded guilty for the  companies  did not  exhibit  any letter  authorizing  them to do so by the firms  board. They argued  that the prosecution failed to comply with  section 477 (3) of the  Administration of Criminal  Justice Act,  2015 which  specifies  that such a representation  must have  authorisation.

Nkechi Bright Ewere