Provocation is a legal defense used in criminal law to reduce the charge of, for example, murder to manslaughter. As lawyers always argue, the defendant was provoked into committing the crime due to the actions of the victim. In many jurisdictions, provocation is only applicable if the defendant acted on a sudden and temporary loss of self-control, and if a reasonable person would have been similarly provoked.

Was Seun provoked by the action of the police officer?

The story peddled on social media was that the officer used a police patrol van to smash Seun’s car. If this is true, could the officer’s action have:

(1) provoked a reasonable person?

(2) elicited such a reaction as Seun’s in a reasonable person?

We could also ask:

(3) Could Seun be described as reasonable at the time of his action? Or

(4) Could any reasonable person be reasonable under the situation?

I am not a lawyer and therefore would love that lawyers to educate us on this matter. Although a layperson, I am aware that the law recognizes that a person may lose his or her self-control due to extreme emotional distress or provocation, and may therefore act in a way that the person would not have otherwise acted.

If my little knowledge of how the law operates is anything to go by, the defense of provocation acknowledges that in such circumstances as the four noted in my questions above, Seun or any offender in the same situation may find his or her culpability lessened.

In a case of murder, offenders they may be held accountable for a lesser charge than murder – for instance, manslaughter. While I cannot say precisely if Seun would be found guilty, I can say that the outcome of this case would shock many Nigerians.
If a case of provocation can be proven, then I do not see Seun spending time in jail. He could be made to pay for the officer’s treatment or anything lesser than time behind bars.

Many have called for Seun’s head on social media and other platforms. I am not surprised at this, as many Nigerians, like other people, adopt a knee-jack reaction in situations like this. One common thing in most of these reactions was the failure to take Seun’s emotional state into consideration and to determine to what extent his reaction was predetermined by the action of the officer.

Having said the above, I am not ignorant of the fact that the scope of provocation as a defense varies across different jurisdictions. In some jurisdictions, the defense of provocation may be limited only to situations where the victim has committed an unlawful act against the defendant, such as assault, and where the defendant acted in response to that act. In other jurisdictions, provocation may be broader and may apply even if the victim did not commit an unlawful act, but instead engaged in behavior that would have provoked a reasonable person to act as the defendant did.

It is important to note that provocation is not a defense to all crimes. For example, it is not applicable in cases of rape or arson. Additionally, even if provocation is established as a defense, the defendant may still face penalties for other crimes they committed in the course of the incident, such as assault or battery.

Overall, the application of provocation as a legal defense can be complex and varies across different jurisdictions. It is important to seek legal advice before rushing to judgment as many have done with the case of Seun.

Law, after all, is not about what happened but about what can be proven as happened.