Ex-beauty
queen, Ibinabo Fiberesima, has urged the Supreme Court to set aside the
judgment of the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, which last Friday
affirmed the five years’ imprisonment imposed on her by a Lagos
State High Court.
The
actress is also seeking to be released on bail pending when the Supreme Court
would hear and determine her appeal against the appellate court’s judgment.
In
a six-paragraph affidavit of urgency filed in support of her bail application,
one Victor Eden said Fibresima had just undergone surgery to remove breast
cancer.
Eden
said the surgical wound had yet to heal, adding that the actress was afraid
that her life might be endangered if kept in prison custody.
Eden
said, “Her (Fiberesima) wound has not fully healed and, as such, she is afraid
that her continued stay in the prison may endanger her life as she will not
have access to a proper medical attention.
“It
will be in the interest of justice and for her health and safety for the
appellant to be admitted to bail pending the hearing and determination of the
appellant’s appeal before the Supreme Court.”
But
the bail application suffered a setback on Thursday as the Court of Appeal
decided it was ‘incompetent’.
Fiberesima’s
lawyer, Nnaemeka Amaechina, had told the appellate court panel comprising
Justices U.I. Ndukwe-Anyanwu, Samuel Oseji and Tijani Abubakar that he had
served the bail application on the Lagos State Government, which is the
respondent in the appeal.
But
Justice Ndukwe-Anyanwu, who led the panel, observed that copies of the court
judgments leading to Fiberesima’s conviction and sentence were not attached to
the bail application.
The
judge said failure to attach the judgments had rendered the application
incompetent, adding that the options left to the court in the circumstance were
to either strike out the bail application or adjourn for the appellant to do
the needful.
Amaechina
opted for an adjournment to enable him to “do the needful”.
The
panel consequently adjourned till April 7 to hear the application.
Justice
Deborah Oluwayemi of the state high court had in 2009 convicted Fiberesima of
manslaughter, holding that her reckless driving was responsible for an auto
crash which claimed the life of one Dr. Giwa Suraj on the Lekki-Epe Expressway.
While
sentencing Fiberesima to five years imprisonment, Justice Oluwayemi overruled
the decision of a Lagos State Magistrates’ Court which earlier ordered her to
pay N100,000 for the offence.
Last
Friday, the Court of Appeal upheld the Justice Oluwayemi’s judgment.
But
Fiberesima, through her lawyer, Nnaemeka Amaechina, has approached the Supreme
Court to challenge the appellate court judgment.
Amaechina,
in the grounds of the appeal, described the appellate court’s judgment as
unreasonable and one that found no support in law in view of the evidence
presented before it.
He
contended that the Appellate Court erred in law when it affirmed the judgment
of the high court that set aside the N100,000 fine imposed on Fiberesima and sentenced
her to five years imprisonment.
The
lawyer also contended that the Court of Appeal erred in law when it affirmed
the inference by the high court that the magistrate’s court misused its
discretion by giving Fiberesima N100,000 fine option for the manslaughter
offence.
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