There was confusion at a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Sabo, Lagos on Tuesday after a 48-year-old suspect standing trial for fraud, Mrs. Pearl Nwashali, slumped moments after she was called into the dock.
It took the intervention of the registrar, warders and some people in the court to avert what seemed like an unfolding tragedy. She was later taken out of the dock to a seat.
The incident prompted her defense counsel, Mrs. A.U Onyeagura, to ask the court for an adjournment.
However, the magistrate, Mrs. Folarin William, stood down the case.
When it was recalled some minutes later, both the defendant and her counsel were no longer in court.
William described the incident as “a drama intended to deceive the court and pervert the course of justice.”
She observed that the defendant had been coming up with different excuses and tricks since the matter started in April 2012 to avoid paying the claimants their money.
She said, “I still very much believe that the defendant and her counsel are deceiving the court. The court also believes that the defendant is not prepared to settle the claimants but deceiving the court with the concurrence of her counsel.
“The court wonders if the money was ready, and whether the defendant would have paid the complainants today as she had promised since April, 30, 2013 if she had not fainted.
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