Five Years' Jail Term: Ibinabo Fiberesima Asks Court For Bail Pending Appeal

Five Years' Jail Term: Ibinabo Fiberesima Asks Court For Bail Pending Appeal

Jailed Nollywood actress, Ibinabo Fiberesima yesterday urged the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal to admit her to bail pending the hearing and determination of an appeal she institute against her five years sentence before the Supreme Court.

Fiberesima, who is seeking the post trial bail on health ground, claimed that she is currently recovering from surgery and that she recently removed tumour from her breast, so she needed constant monitoring by her doctors.

It will be recalled that the embattled actress was sentenced to five years imprisonment by Justice Deborah Oluwayemi of the Lagos High Court for reckless driving which caused the death of one Dr. Giwa Suraj in an auto accident along the Lekki-Epe expressway, Lagos.

Dissatisfied, Fiberesima in her amended appellant brief filed by her lawyer, Nnaemeka Amaechina urged the court to set aside the five year sentence and restore the decision of the Magistrate Court, which had earlier imposed a N100,000 fine on her for the offence.

But, the appellate court in its judgement delivered on February 11 dismissed Ibinabo’s appeal and affirmed the decision of the Lagos High Court.

The former beauty queen, who had filed an appeal against the judgment before the Supreme Court, in a 6-paragrah affidavit of urgency deposed to by one Victor Eden, stated that her 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 special medical attention.

However her application for post trial bail could not be entertained by the Court Of Appeal on Thursday  due to what the appellate court described as incompetency of the application.

The three man-panels presided over by Justice UI Ndukwe-Anyanwu observed that the appellant failed to attach copies of the judgment delivered by the upper court, which affirmed the five years jail sentenced imposed on her by the lower court.

Others Justice on the panel are Justice Samuel Oseji and Justice Tijani Abubakar respectively.

When the matter came up for hearing, Ibinabo’s lawyer, Nnaemeka Amaechina informed that court of an application dated March 14 adding that same had been served on the Lagos state government (respondent).

However, the proceedings could not go on as the court observed that the appellant failed to attach copies of the judgement of the court as exhibit thereby rendering the whole application incompetent.

Justice Ndukwe-Anyanwu, who is presiding over the panel, said the options available to the court was to strike out the application or adjourn it till further date for hearing.

Taking the hints of the court, Amaechina sought for an adjournment to enable him perfect hus application.

A development that compelled the court to adjourned the matter till April 7 for hearing.

In her appeal before the Supreme Court, Ibinabo is urging the apex court to set aside the judgement of the lower court.

In her Notice of Appeal, the appellant stated that the Court of Appeal erred in law when it affirmed the alteration by the high court of Lagos state by setting aside the option of N100, 000 fine and substituting it with a term of 5 years imprisonment.

The appellant further stated that the Court of Appeal erred in law when it affirmed the interference by the high court with the exercise of discretion by the trial Magistrate's Court.

She added that the judgment of the Court of Appeal is unreasonable and cannot be supported having regard to the evidence presented before the court.