The Doctrine of “last seen” in a simpler context

If Mr. A was last seen with Mr. B and Mr. B suddenly turned up dead, (ie the deceased was not previously sick or previously showing any sign of death), the law is that it will be presumed that it was Mr. A that killed or is responsible for the death of Mr. B unless Mr. B was able to prove he is nor responsible for the death of Mr. B and this is called the “doctrine of last seen”.

This doctrine of last seen stands as a negation or an exception to the doctrine of “presumption of innocence” as it is the law that where the victim was last seen with the accused person and has not been found after a period of time, the death of the lost person will be presumed, it will also be presumed the person that he was last seen together with is responsible for his disappearance or death.

The doctrine of ‘last seen in simpler terms simply means that the law presumes that the person last seen with a deceased person bears the full responsibility for his death.

As it is customary in criminal trials, the onus to prove that the accused person committed the offense he is been charged with lies on the prosecutor; the prosecutor has to prove beyond every reasonable doubt that the accused person did commit that offense but if it is in a murder trial and the accused person is said to be last seen with the deceased thereby accusing the suspect of being responsible for the death of the deceased, the onus then shifts from the prosecutor to the accused person.

The onus to prove his innocence now lies with the accused person; this act of the accused person proving his innocence negates the principle that an accused person does not have to prove that he is innocent because he is presumed to be innocent of the crime he has been accused of.

This principle of last seen should be an eye opener to everyone that the principle of presumption of innocence, unlike what most may think, has an exception and such like every other principle of law and such exception is the doctrine of last seen.