The Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, yesterday
fixed Thursday, July 11 for the hearing of an
appeal filed by the convicted producers of My
Pikin teething mixture.
Presided over by Justice J.S. Ikyegh, the court’s
decision followed the respondents’ plea for
time to enable them file their response to the
appellants’ applications seeking bail for the
convicts, pending the determination of the
appeal; an application seeking departure from
the Rules of the Court as well as an accelerated
hearing of the appeal.
National Agency for Food and Drug
Administration and Control (NAFDAC), which is
the respondent, on May 17 got judgment
against the appellants before Justice
Okechukwu Okeke of a Federal High Court,
Lagos, now retired.
The judge had convicted the appellants, Egbele
Austin Eromosele and Adeyemo Abiodun and
sentenced them to seven years inprisonment
while ruling that their firm, Barewa
Pharmaceuticals Limited, be wound up and its
assets forfeited to the Federal Government.
He convicted them of conspiracy and sale of
dangerous drugs, to which counsel to the
convicts, Osaro Eghobamien (SAN), on same
day, filed a notice of appeal.
Eghobamien on July 3 filed a 14-ground
amended Notice of Appeal, where he contested
the judgment and insisted that Justice
Okechukwu erred in law by failing to consider
the evidence of the defence but relied wholly
on the unsworn statement of Defence Witness
1 (DW1).
“The learned trial Judge erred in law in
convicting my clients for conspiracy and sale
of dangerous drugs, relying on unsustainable
evidence in the absence of either direct
evidence of identified victims who may have
consumed the drugs, or autopsy/forensic
reports in proof of the alleged deaths as a
result of taking the drugs,” he stated.
Eghobamien averred that the conviction was
unreasonable, unwarranted and could not be
sustained, having regard to the evidence.
At the resumed hearing yesterday, Eghobamien
informed the court of the appellants’ two
pending applications (for bail and accelerated
hearing) and expressed his desire to proceed
with the applications.
But counsel to the respondent, J. Kadiri of
Mike Ozekhome Chambers, informed the court
that they were served on July 4 and would
need time to reply.
In its ruling, the court held that due to the
nature and urgency of the case, hearing of the
appeals should be fixed for Monday, July 8,
and directed the respondent to file its reply.
Source:the nation
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