Jooda Akanbi acquitted of murder in Swords bat case

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Jooda Akanbi, 39, was acquitted of murdering Taiwo Jamani, 45, following a two-week trial at the Central Criminal Court. He had pleaded not guilty to murder. The proceedings were reported on 27 April 2015.

The fight took place on Main Street, Swords, on 10 October 2013. Mr Jamani died in hospital on 13 November 2013 from a severe traumatic brain injury. His death date was the date specified in the murder charge.

Mr Akanbi admitted striking Mr Jamani’s head with a baseball bat but said he acted in self-defence. He testified that he had opened his car boot to retrieve documents for a meeting. He said Mr Jamani punched him in the jaw and grabbed a bat before he took the second bat from the car. A pathologist testified that considerable or severe force would have been needed to cause the injuries.

The prosecution sought a murder conviction, arguing that Mr Akanbi intended to kill or seriously injure Mr Jamani. The State rejected self-defence and said jurors should find him guilty of manslaughter at least if they could not convict him of murder. The defence sought acquittal, suggesting manslaughter at most.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt told jurors they could acquit if Mr Akanbi acted in self-defence and used reasonable force. He explained that manslaughter was possible through lack of the necessary intention or excessive self-defence, but jurors had to agree on the reason.

The jury began deliberating on 23 April 2015. It returned a not-guilty verdict after more than seven hours and 10 minutes of deliberations. Mr Justice Tony Hunt discharged Mr Akanbi.