National President of Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, Ibinabo Fiberesima, has headed for Supreme Court after a court of appeal on Friday affirmed the judgment of a Lagos High Court hearing a manslaughter charge against her.
In a unanimous decision delivered in court by Justice Jamilu Yammama Tukur, the earlier sentence of a Magistrate Court in Lagos, which awarded a N100,000 fine on the actress, was struck out.
The Appeal Court held that the Magistrate lacked the discretion to grant Ibinabo, an ex-beauty queen, the option of a fine upon conviction.
A magistrate court had awarded an option of fine of N100,000 to Ibinabo after she was accused of reckless driving which caused the death of one Dr Giwa Suraj in an auto accident along the Lekki-Epe expressway, Lagos. The deceased was a staff of a state-owned hospital.
Not satisfy with the ruling, the then Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Supo Sasore (SAN), took the case to the Lagos High Court in 2005.
At the Lagos High Court, Justice Oluwayemi set aside the option of fine imposed by the Magistrate’s Court and sentenced Fiberesima to five years’ imprisonment for dangerous and reckless driving.
She appealed it, but lost it and broke down in tears at the court on Friday.
However, her counsel, Nnaemeka Amaechina, said that the judgment would be challenged at the Supreme Court, saying a Notice of Appeal had already been filed.
