The social media yesterday was taken over by a video of the wife of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu, and the wife of Willie Obiano, Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano exchanging slaps at the inauguration ceremony of Prof. Charles Soludo, the new governor of the state.
According to the videos we’ve seen, it was Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu that did the slapping, she slapped Mrs. Obiano. There’s more to the video and more background story, but Mrs. Ojukwu can claim the defense of provocation which is a valid defense in criminal trials as it is seen in the video that Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano left her seat and approached the seat of Mrs Ojukwu to confront her and engaged her in verbal exchange.
The act of Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu slapping Mrs. Willie Obiano despite the defense of provocation constitutes a crime known to the law as assault and battery.
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An assault can be defined to be the act of inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon another person. It can also be said to be a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in criminal prosecution, civil liability, or both.
Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact with another person. The term battery refers to a specific type of criminal charge involving the unauthorized application of force against another person’s body which results in the actual infliction of physical injury.
For example, to throw a stone at a person is an assault but if the stone falls upon the person causing any physical injury to the person is the battery.
The act of slapping another individual is assault and battery which is a crime punishable under Nigeria’s legal system.
The offense of assault and battery is provided in law as it is defined in Section 252 of the Criminal Code Act as:
“ a person who strikes, touches, or moves, or otherwise applies a force of any kind to the person of another, either directly or indirectly, without his consent, or with his consent, if the consent is obtained by fraud, or who by any bodily act or gesture attempts or threatens to apply the force of any kind to the person of another without his consent, in such circumstances that the person making the attempt or threat has actually or apparently a present ability to effect his purpose, is said to assault that other person, and the act is called an assault”.
Under the Nigerian legal system, assault and battery are treated as the same crime
The punishment for the offense of assault and battery was at the other hand provided in Section 351 of the Criminal Code Act, which states that any person who unlawfully assaults another is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is liable, if no greater punishment is provided, to imprisonment for one year.
To this effect, the act of Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu slapping Mrs. Obiano is a misdemeanor punishable with a one-year jail term according to s.351 of the criminal code which Anambra state where the act took place as a jurisdiction falls under.
Readers should note that this piece aims to buttress the actions of the two ladies from the legal point of view using evidence available to us at the time of writing this and it is never to apportion blame or go into the background of who is right and who is wrong amongst the two respected ladies.
What can be done for someone to slap another without a consent given? And this act was done behind a wheel. I mean I was actually on a steering while the act took place against my person.