ISSUE:
Liability of person who reports purely civil matter to the police.
PRINCIPLE:
“When a person reports a purely civil matter to the police, such a person cannot go scot-free, as the report ought not to have been made at all since it is not within the purview of police duties.
It is a report made mala fide and he will be equally liable for the action taken by the police irrespective of whether he actively instigated them or not, since he had no business involving the police in a purely civil matter in the first place.
Such conduct, which portrays a disregard of the law and is aimed at using the coercive powers of the state to punish a contracting party in a purely civil matter ought to be mulcted in exemplary damages.
In the instant case, the conduct of Mrs. Sokari Davies, an enlightened person who reported such a matter to the police instead of going to court to seek for enforcement of the contract or damages for breach of same, amounted to wickedness, and was mala fide.
The charges of cheating and criminal breach of trust could not have a place against the appellant, let alone proving it to a conviction. In fact he deserved an unreserved apology from Mrs. Sokari Davies who set, unjustly and mala fide, the criminal process against the appellant. [Okafor v. AIG Police Zone II Onikan (2019) LPELR-46505.” Per. Abba Aji, JSC.
CITATION:
Kure v. C.O.P. (2020) 9 NWLR (Pt. 1729) 296 at 326, paras. B – F (SC)
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