Drama As Female Fraud Suspect Collapse In Court

There was confusion at a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Sabo, Lagos on Tuesday after Mrs. Pearl Nwashali, a  48-year-old suspect standing trial for fraud, slumped moments after she was called into the dock.

“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 magistrate, Mrs. Folarin William, said this while describing the fainting incident as “a drama intended to deceive the court and pervert the course of justice.”

Anyway, 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.

Following the incident, her defense counsel, Mrs. A.U Onyeagura, to ask the court for an adjournment.

When the case was recalled minutes later, both the woman and her counsel were no longer in court.

Magistrate Folarin William thus stood down the case. 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, “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? Now that the case is recalled, there is no defendant in court and no counsel for her.”

You may wish to know that Mrs Nwashali had been arraigned since 2012 on 4 counts of fraud, stealing.

She defrauded two women, Philomena Eguenu and Osinowo Oluwatoyin of N1m after calling the duo to Victoria Island, Lagos to inspect and buy a shipload of oil product. She also issued a dud GT Bank cheque worth N500,000 to another person, Adegboyega Kolade.

Mrs Nwashalishi, through her defence counsel, A.U Onyeagura, had promised to settle the complainants and at a time, said cheques had been written. 

But she keeps coming up with different tricks to avoid paying the money.