Article Citation: Isah Muhammad & Salisu Musa (2020). The Forensics of Crime Notes in Sokoto Metropolis. DEGEL: The Journal of the Faculty of Arts and Islamic Studies, Vol. 18, No. 2. ISSN 0794-9316
THE FORENSICS OF CRIME NOTES IN
SOKOTO METROPOLIS
By
Isah Muhammad & Salisu Musa
Abstract
This paper attempts a concise examination of forensic
linguistics in conducting criminal investigations in Sokoto metropolis. The
paper takes a look at how certain linguistic concepts can be used to handle
criminal investigations thereby revealing the suspect’s identities or at least
understanding the nature of a crime committed. We embarked on purposeful
fieldwork with a view to eliciting relevant data. The data has been handled
carefully within forensic linguistics framework. The research was able to uncover
that forensics can be applied in linguistics to attempt a deconstruction or
reconstruction of a complex criminal situation.
Introduction
World over, security and other government agencies
have resorted to applying scientific measures in criminal investigation so as
to curtail the activities of criminals and criminal groups. Forensic is the
cover term used to describe such measures. Scientific methods such as Finger
Print Test, Deoxyribonucleic Acid Test (DNA Test) are some of the popular
methods used by the agencies in their criminal investigation in order to
profile the identity of suspected persons and groups. Moreover, amazingly in 1968
a professor of Linguistics, Jan Svartvick, showed dramatically how helpful
forensic linguistics could be in profiling the identity of suspected persons
and groups (Dewdrop, 2017). Interestingly, the efficacy of this
linguistic-based approach of criminal profiling popularized by Svartvick has
spurred researchers, security agencies and academics across the globe to apply
the method in profiling the identities of suspected persons and groups using
samples of linguistic evidences from their locality with a view to facilitating
criminal investigation in their society. It is based on the above, this
research is undertaken to collect samples of linguistic evidence in Sokoto in
order to illustrate how forensic linguistics could facilitate criminal
investigation and enhance justice delivery in the state.
Statement of
the Problem
Observation revealed that there are lots of crimes
where linguistic evidences exist in Sokoto, but unfortunately, the perpetrators
almost always go unidentified, perhaps because of the lack of viable scientific
methods to use in identifying such perpetrators. Therefore, based on this, the
paper undertakes to fill that gap by illustrating how forensic linguistic
analysis of language evidence could be used to profile the identities of
criminals who commit different crimes in the state, especially those where
language evidence is involved.
Aim and
Objectives
The broad aim of this research is to describe how
forensic linguistics could be used to facilitate criminal investigation and
justice delivery in Sokoto and to achieve this, the following objectives are
set:
·
To collect and analyse threat letters in Sokoto.
·
To attempt reconstructing the profile of suspected
persons and groups through the threat letters.
Literature
Review
For this paper, relevant books, journal articles and
online publications that have direct relation with this research have been
reviewed. Handke (2014) sees Forensic Linguistics as "the application of
linguistic techniques to investigate crimes in which language data form part of
the evidence in order to support police statements". In this respect, we
can argue that Forensic Linguistics is a branch of Applied Linguistics that is
aimed at applying linguistic principles gained from descriptive and theoretical
linguistics in analysing information as part of investigation in the determination
of whether or not a crime has been committed.
Handke (2014) posits that Forensic Linguistics has two
central areas. Thus: Voice
Identification and Authorship Profiling.
(1) Voice
Identification: Voice
Identification is called “Forensic Phonetics “. In Forensic Phonetics, speaker
profiles are generated on the basis of their vocal characteristics. Forensic
Phonetics deals with matters such as:
(a) Speaker
Profiling: The goal in
speaker profiling is to narrow the field of suspect. These include speaker's
sex, speaker's age, speaker's linguistic, regional and social background,
speaker's individual peculiarities, etc.
(b) Speaker
Identification: Speaker
Identification is carried out by combining auditory and acoustic analysis. The
goal is to provide an opinion as to whether a particular voice for example in
recording telephone call or particular conversion recorded by a recording
device is that of a particular known person .
(2) Authorship
Profiling: Authorship
Profiling is otherwise known as Forensic Stylistics. Here author(s) of
particular texts are identified on the basis of their peculiar textual styles.
The goal is to determine who wrote a particular text by comparing it to known
writing samples of the suspect. Examples of Forensic Texts are emergency calls,
hate mails, ransom demands, suicide letters, etc.
Major
Beneficiaries of Forensic Linguistic Analysis
Leonard (2015) is of the view that Forensic linguistic
analysis helps non-linguists to gain maximum intelligence from language
evidence. Examples of such non-linguists are: Investigators, Judges, Juries,
Attorneys, Companies, Individuals, etc.
Methodology
The paper has adopted both primary and secondary
methodologies to obtain useful data necessary for analysis.
Primary
Methodology
Thus, in a bid to obtain information directly from the
primary source, the researchers used field trip to collect data. We have
visited Chief Magistrate Court 1, Sokoto, Sokoto Central Magistrate Court, Area
Command Office, Sokoto Metro, IGP Monitoring Unit, Sokoto Command, and State
Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (CIID), Sokoto State Police
Command Headquarters. While at those places, we formally obtained disputed suspect statements and threat letters.
Data
Presentation and Analysis:
The researchers present and succinctly analyse the
data elicited beneath: (Note: Excerpts of all the data collected are presented
as they were originally given, no editing was made)
The Forensics
of Threat Letter - Sample “A”
This note was sent to a lady in Sokoto via SMS and the
note reads:
.. u insulted me, I thank u I pity
ur miserable life that is why u did not hear from me wallahi u stupid. But note
this unforgettable promise that I made to u, “on one very happy day I’m going
to do u something that u ‘ live to bear & deal with inshaallah.”
The profile of the author of the above text can be
described on the basis of the grammatical and sociolinguistic variables in the
text as follows:
Demographic
Variables
Gender:
Following Robinson (2016) that “Men’s language can be
direct and aggressive. Women’s language can be less harsh, emotional and
standard,” we can infer that the author of the above text is a male by gender
on the basis of the following;
First, it’s apparent that the writer is direct and
aggressive. Some of the evidence of directness, macho connotation of
masculinity and toughness include: “u
insulted me”, “I pity ur miserable life", “u stupid” etc. More so,
some of the notable evidence from the letter that indicates the macho
connotation of masculinity and toughness (aggressiveness) of the writer include
“u stupid”, “I pity ur miserable life” etc.
Approximate
Age:
Holmes (1992) is of the view that the language of
middle age adult is characterized by frequent use of swear words, slangs and
the language is generally non-standard.
Correspondingly amazing, in the above letter, the
writer used many slangs and swear words, which we can use as evidence to
classify him as middle-aged adult. Some of these swear words (vulgar words) and
slangs from the letter are: “In sha Allah” (God willing), “wallahi” (I swear by
Allah), I pity ur miserable life (an example of non-standard usage), etc.
Regional
Background: Sokoto Metropolis
Religion: Islam
Words and phrases such as “wallahi” and “insha Allah”
are borrowed terminologies from Arabic that are commonly used by Muslims.
Therefore, occurrence of such phrases in the above letter infers that the
writer is a Muslim faithful.
Tribe: Hausa
“Wallahi” is a borrowed term from Arabic commonly used
by Hausas in Nigeria. Thus, the use of “wallahi” suggests that the author is
Hausa by tribe.
Social and
Educational Backgrounds
Detailed study of the above text reveals that the
author communicates in “restricted code”, a code identified by Bernstein to be
used by lower class people in the community and generally the meaning of which
depends on presupposition. The use of phrase such as “note this unforgettable
promise that I made to you” suggests that the social class of the writer is
lower class not middle class because there is evidence of presupposition in the
sentence.
Moreover, the author seems to be educated lower class
individual of Sokoto metropolis. The writer’s ability to employ structure that
indicates tense in his writing shows that the writer has tested the educational
flavor of the Western world by Nigerian standard and Sokoto to be specific.
General Comment
The whole statement is commissive in nature. This is
because the writer is making a pledge. And looking at the wordings of the
pledge as a whole we can deduct that the writer makes a serious statement of
threats on the dignity of the lady that received the SMS. The use of commissive
act by the author in this statement “on
one very happy day I’m going to do u something that u will live to bear and
deal with” presupposes that the writer’s promise is not lethal. The use of
phrase such as “one very happy day”
and “u l live to bear with”
presuppose that the writer’s intention might be to rape the lady not to kill
her.
Furthermore, the phrase “note this unforgettable promise that I made to you” is an example
of directive act. The speaker was giving command to the lady that the lady
should remember an unforgettable promise he made to her. Based on this we can
conclude that there was a promise which the writer made to the lady sometime in
the past, which the lady is fully aware and the promise, looking at the meaning
of the note as a whole, is that same rape promise.
Based on the said promise, we suggest that the police
investigator should inquire further from the lady on the day and time of the
promise so as to enable him gather substantial evidence that will facilitate
the prosecution of the writer.
We equally suggest that the lady be very vigilant and
cautious as to avoid falling victim of the writer’s intention.
Summary of the
Writer’s Profile
Based on the analyses above, the writer of the letter
threat sample “A” is a male, middle age adult from lower class ,but educated
Muslim faithful of Sokoto who happened to be an ex-boyfriend of the receiver of
the message.
The Forensic of
Threat Letter – Sample “B”
TEXT I
Dankawu ga Nura nan kamaisai baya tunda bakai ka haife
shiba nan dan zuru ya bidan mashi aiki kahana kodayake kace ba aiki sukai ba
iskanci sukai inji matarka luba mu mun ji dadin su danzuru da aisha da sun ka
ba banza ajiyarka munafukin Allah.”
Translated as:
Dankawu you have been maltreating Nura since he is not
your biological son. We are aware that Danzuru has gotten a job for him but you
stopped him from doing it out of envy because your wife Luba alleged that it
was not a work they were doing. They were just using the avenue to be engaging
in acts of immorality. We are happy with what Danzuru and Aisha did to you. You
hypocrite.”
Analysis
The whole statement is expressive in nature. The
writer is expressing his displeasure on the attitude of Dankawu on Nura. The
text in general is a warning signal on a rising conflict between the sender and
the receiver of the message.
The use of abusive words such as “munafikin Allah”
(hypocrite), is an indicator to the rising conflict. However, we opine that the
warning contained in the note as identified above and the use of abusive phrase
such as “Munafikin Allah” in the text are important pieces of evidence that can
be used by the Police to establish a case of inciting disturbance and
intentional insult against the suspect.
TEXT 2
Dankawu kaci amanar malan tunda kaga diyatai ta auri
wanda zai temakamai gashi ka hadassa fitina agida tunda ka saya amshe gona ya
baka mu ba mu yafe hakin mu ba kai ka dubi dai araken da kace abiya ka yau ina
kudin.”
Translated as:
Dankawu you have cheated malam out of jealousy because
you see that his daughter is married to someone that can help him. And you also
instigated trouble in the family. You made Malam to collect farmland from
relative and give you. We can never forgive you since we equally have rights to
the farmland.”
Analysis
The wordings of the text compared to text 1 are
harsher and more abusive. The use of phrase such as “Ka haadassa fitina agida
(you incited trouble among the family) suggests that the sender is a relation
of the receiver. So in general, the above suggestion is an important clue for
the investigator(s) to localize their investigation about the sender to only
relatives of the receiver of the SMS.
TEXT 3
DANGIDAN KAKA YARABORI KACE MUNA AISHA SAI ANGANETA
DODORU KO BONCHO YAU GATA DAKIN MIJINTA WALLAHI DON BAKAI KA HAIFETA BA MALAN
DA YA HAIFETA BABU WALLAKANCI DA DIYAN KA BASUYI MAI BA AMAN BAI TABA NUNA MA
BA SAI DAI YAFADA MA MUTANE SANNAN KANA SON KARABA TA DA DANGINTA MU BA KA ISSA
KA HADAMU DA AISHA BA.
Translates as:
Dan gidan Kaka YarBori you told us that Aisha will be
a street lady in Doduru and Boncho because she is not your daughter. So today
we are happy she is in her husband’s house. Her father Malam has also not
escaped insults from your children but he did not bother to reply back or
complaint to you. And also you want to separate her from us, her relatives; you
are too small to do that.”
Analysis
Text 3 further confirmed that the sender is a relation
to the receiver and the issue raised is about family matter. So the
investigator’s task is to concentrate on the relatives of the receiver.
TEXT 4
Dan gidan kaka da fatan ka sami sakonin mu wallahi
zamu dauke ka sai an bamu kudin fansa zamu sakeka saboda anbamu tarihinka kai
azzalumi ne macuci daga yanzu komai na iya faruwa dakai saboda an yi jinga damu
kuma anbiya mu kudi kassa.”
Translated as:
Dangidan Kaka, I hope you have received our messages.
Wallahi we are going to kidnap you and we will not release you till we collect
ransom. We have heard your history that you are wicked. Therefore anything can
happen to you form now because we were paid in cash to kidnap you.”
Analysis
The text contains commissive act “Zamu dauke ka sai am bamu kudin fansa (we will kidnap you until ransom
is paid before we release you) which suggests that there is danger ahead.
This is the peak of the conflict. The text in general is a warning signal. It
is a call on the victim and security agencies to be proactive to ensure the
security of the victim.
TEXT 5
Dan kawu batun baka kwana gida bai hana muna aikin mu
mun san duk inda zaka.
Translated as:
Dankawu, the fact that you are not spending night in
your house does not prevent us from kidnapping you. We know where you are
hiding.”
Analysis
This text suggests that the threat is serious and the
sender is aware of the receiver’s movement which also shows the closeness of
the sender to the receiver.
TEXT 6
Dan kawu duk inda ka shiga duniya sai mun kama ka
kasan mun taba magana da kai shekara uku danawucce lokacin da kace ma wata mata
ta fita batun uwayenta ku tafi zuru a daura ma aure, datta munka ce ma wallahi
inkun tafi kai ba ka dawowa kuma musami labari cewa kana son ta kashe aure ka
aure ta sai mun gabaya gareka.
Translated as:
Dankawu, wherever you hide we will get you. Remember
three years back we warned you when you tried to seduce a lady and pushed her
to separate with her husband and abandoned her parent so that you will go to
Zuru and get married to her. We will make sure we see your end.”
Analysis
This text also is a continuation of the chain of
events that led to the conflict.
General
Comments of Threat Letter Sample – “B”
The above series of texts were sent to Dankawu by an
unknown person(s). But, nonetheless we can describe the profile of the
author(s) of the texts as seen below:
Demographic
Variables
Gender:
The senders of the SMS appear to be males by all
indications. As stated earlier, “Men’s language can be direct and
aggressive…….” Robinson (2011). Thus, studying the above series of texts
linguistically reveals that the writers’ use of language is direct and
aggressive which shows their masculine nature. Some of the examples of words
and phrases that suggest the direct and aggressive nature of the writers from
the above series of text messages include….. “Munafikin Allah”, Sai Munga Baya
Gareka,” etc.
Approximate
Age:
The presence of many swearing words and slangs in the
above series of texts suggests that the writers are adult and middle-aged
adults. Example of swearing words from the above text include “Wallahi,” etc.
Regional
Background
There are many sociolinguistic clues in the texts that
suggest the regional background of the writer(s) to be Sokoto. The notable
among them include: “Mai sai”, “bidan mashi”, “sukai”, “sunka”, “diyatai”,
“anbiyamukudikassa”, “danawucce”, “munke,” etc.
Social and
Educational Backgrounds
The writer of the message under consideration seems to
be a secondary school leaver. There are many instances of grammatical blunders
common to secondary school leavers which made this paper to posit that the
writers are secondary school leaver(s). Notable among them from the above
series of texts include writing proper noun without capitalizing the initial
letter e.g. nura, aisha, danzuru, et.c.
General Comment
Some of the issues raised in the texts suggest that
the writers are relations of the victim as such the investigator is advised to
concentrate his investigation on the victim’s relations, especially those
claimed by the victim to have misunderstanding with him. In other words, to
find out the identity of the authors, the police investigator is advised to ask
for more clarifications from the victim on the conflicting issues raised in the
texts.
Likewise, there are many words and phrases that suggest threats to the
life of the receiver. Some of these words and phrases suggesting threat include
“Zamudaukekasai an bamukudinfansa”, “komainaiyafaruwasabodaanyijingadamuanbiyamukudikassa”,
“dukindakashagaduniyasaimunkamaka”, “inkumtafikaibakadowawa”,
“saimungabayagareka” . These words and phrases portend danger on the life of
the victim. Thus, on the basis of that we suggest that the receiver of
the SMSs be very vigilant.
Furthermore, the above series of texts contain
elements of insults e.g. “Munafukin
Allah” (hypocrite), “Kaci Amanar
Malam” (you breached the trust Malam has in you.), “Kai Azzalumine” (you are cruel).
Furthermore, linguistic comparison of texts 1, 2 and 5
revealed that they were written by the same author based on their grammatical
contents. However, in the same vein texts 3, 4 and 6 are also written by
another same author. This comparison helps to indicate that the SMS were
authored and sent to the victim by multiple writers even though they used the
same phone number as such the investigator is advised to find out the authors
of the texts as it is a joint offence.
Finally, the linguistic analysis of the series of
texts revealed that the author(s) are relations of the receiver of the SMS with
whom he was competing on family matters such as land dispute, family conflict,
etc. Therefore based on that we suggest that the Police should ask questions on
those with whom the receiver has quarrel or dispute and after arresting the
suspect the police using the above series of texts can establish a case of
criminal intimidation, intentional insult, etc. against the writer of the text.
Summary of the
Writer’s Profile Threat Letter Sample “B”
Generally, the writers of these series of texts are
likely males, adults who are relations of the victim living in Sokoto.
The Forensics
of Suspect Statement Sample - “A”
“I of the above mention name and address voluntarily
wish to state as follows: That my name are Iliya Saidu M. I am sales man at
Sand text presently I reside at Arkilla Area, Sokoto that sometimes November
2016, I collected the sum of Two Million, One Hundred and Twenty Eight Thousand
Naira from one Mama Faith at Sahara Area, Sokoto to supply her with paints
since then I did not supply or giver her, her money. That is all I know.”
The above confessional statement was purported by the
police to have been made by the suspect, but on the day of the trial, the
suspect denied the authorship of the statement; hence the need for forensic
linguistic analysis on it.
General Comment
Linguistic comparison of many statements from
different police stations revealed that there are common registers and
conventions that appear frequently in a statements authored by the police. Some
of these common registers and conventions include: the frequent use of “that”
when starting a new sentence, use of “m” to indicate male gender, repeating
address of the suspect immediately after ‘m e.g. (m of Arkilla Area, Sokoto),
closing statement with “that is all I know”
Facts
Critical analysis of the above statement suggests
that, terms and conventions common in statements authored by police appear
frequently in the statement – for example – “that” appears in almost every
beginning of a new sentence in the above statement. More so, conventions such
as ‘m’ are used to refer to male gender in the statement and amazingly address
follows it, in the statement above. Also the closing remark ended with “that is
all I know”. All these correspond to common features of statements written by
police.
Verdict
Based on the above facts, we opine that the statement
in question is authored by the police not the purported suspect. So the Judge
is hereby advised to take note of that while delivering his judgment to ensure
justice to the parties involved
The Forensics
of Suspect Statement Sample - “B”
“I of the above mention name and address wish to state
as follows: I am indigene of Sokoto State, I was born at Kofar Dundaye Area,
Sokoto North Local Government Area. I am single by status. I attend Primary and
Secondary but I did not complete it. I attended Arabic School, I know Nura
Jemilu Maidama as our friend, I can recall yesterday 26/07/2015 at about
2100hrs to 2200hrs. We went to Bafarawa Estate where we saw some people
standing close to motor vehicle car all of them are holding GSM handsets in
their hands. Nura is the one carrying me with motorcycle Daylong Product belong
to his own, then we rode there and meet them and I bring cutlass out and Nura
bring knife out and we ask them to bring their handset and they do so because
we collected their handsets one Techno white and Gionee black and we run then
boys followed us with shout. Somebody riding a motorcycle follow us and we
enter house of one Kasumu Umaru Kobo who is our political leader of PDP and the
resident people of the area follow us to the house and catch us. I know that,
we used to go to go this activities at least five times at different places
like Kuffa, Dundaye, Bafarawa Estate etc.…”
The statement was purported to have been written by
the suspect but on the day of the trial, the suspect denied his confession.
Note that here the main issue is not about the
authorship of the text. The issue in question is about the dispute on the
confession made by the suspect in the statement. Thus, the task of the linguist
is to say his opinion on the nature of the confession based on the linguistic
clues available in the statement.
General
Comments
There is no doubt the statement was transcribed by
police because of the inability of the suspect to write the statement by
himself considering the history of his educational level as narrated in the
statement. But, the confession as made in the statement was made by the suspect
considering the way the history of the events that lead to the crime was
crafted.
Conclusion
From the foregoing, we have attempted to present
samples of threat notes and confessional statements obtained in Sokoto
metropolis. From the data presented above, we have seen how forensic tools can
be applied to analyse the profiles of suspected criminals or persons suspected
to be behind some threat letters and the profiles of the suspects behind those
notes. We reported that confessional statements usually written in Police can
be studied from forensic linguistics perspectives to unravel the events that
lead to the crime.
References
Dew, D. (2017). “What is Forensic
Linguistics?” http://lama.hypotheses.org/70. In Language Matters!, December 12,
2016.
Handke J.
(2014). “Forensic Linguistics an Overview” <The Virtual Linguistics
Campus> YouTube. Retrieved April 21, 2021, from https://youtu.be/n4wZ-O_f5ds
Holmes, J.
(1992) ‘Women’s talk in public contexts’, Discourse and Society.
Leonard R.
(2015): “The Ground Breaking Science for Forensic Linguistics” <Polyglot
Conference.> YouTube. Retrieved April 21, 2021, from
https://youtu.be/-01uO3uTrgk
Leonard, R., Ford, J, and Christen T. (2017). Forensic Linguistics: Applying the Scientific Principles of Language Analysis to Issues of the Law. International Hofstra Law Review 45
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