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Presiding Magistrate at Court No.1A, Mr. Henry Sandy, on Tuesday, 16th February, granted soft bail to a Nigerian couple who were appearing before him on a fraudulent conversion charge.
Although the offense is bailable, the action by the Magistrate to grant bail just one day after he himself refused them bail, has raised many eye brows.
According to lawyers who spoke to this press in anonymity, after the Magistrate has made that pronouncement, it becomes "funtus", that is it becomes a situation where he has no control until the matter comes before him on the adjourned date.
But in this case although the Presiding Magistrate refused bail and adjourned to Monday, 22nd February, he himself signed the Production Order for the accused persons, who were applying on medical grounds, to be brought before him. And what raised the suspicion is that the bail was granted behind closed doors, exparte instead of interparte, that is, for the other party, the prosecutor, the Director of Public Prosecutions, to be present.
And for bail to be granted it had to come by motion which never happened, but was done vivavoce, that is orally.
"The Magistrate put himself in a position of approbate and reprobate when he granted bail in that manner," one of the barristers who spoke to us said.
The couple, Adebowale and Olufela Adeyemiof 94C Old Road, Lumley who are alleged to have converted huge sums of money insidiously siphoned from a Communications Warehouse Company, an establishment in which they were employers, to their own use.
The Magistrate is said to have rushed things unnecessarily as an application for bail on their behalf was on the table of Appeals Court Judge, Hon. Justice Nicholas Browne-Marke.
But unfortunately for the couples who file was in limbo for some days, they were not able to meet the Magistrate's soft bail condition of Le200m each with two sureties each in like sum so they were whisked off to the Pademba Road Prisons to spend another night there.
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Editorials 
