A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF ADOPTING ACTUS REUS AS A LONE DETERMINANT IN CRIMINAL CULPABILITY AND LIABILITY UNDER THE NIGERIAN CRIMINAL LAW

Abstract

In all climes and jurisdictions, the requirement of guilty intent mens rea is sine qua non in the
determination of one's culpability in criminal adjudication. To assert culpability of an individual,
there must be a reasonable conviction that one had the intention to commit the crime. The
contemporaneity of the intention (mens rea) and action (actus reus) lends credence to
commission of a crime. Hence, the absence of mens rea creates a gulf between culpability and
exculpability in ascertaining measures of deliberate subjective fault in criminal justice
dispensation. This work relied on the doctrinal method of analysis, with primary sources of
information drawn from case laws, statutes and secondary sources of information distilled from
journal articles and internet sources. The article found that in Nigeria, an accused person without
the prerequisite mens rea may not still be exculpated of criminal liability for his actions but his
punishment may be mitigated on a successful plea.
This work therefore recommended, amongst others, that an accused without the prerequisite
mens rea should be totally exculpated of any criminal culpability.