Appeal Court upholds ‘my pikin’ producers’ jail term

The Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, yesterday upheld the judgment of a Federal High Court in Lagos, which sentenced two employees of Barewa Pharmaceutical Company Limited to seven years behind bars for selling a killer teething syrup- “My Pikin” Adeyemo Abiodun and Ebele Eromosele, were three years ago jailed seven years each for selling the killer syrup by Justice Okechukwu Okeke of the Lagos Federal High Court.

Before yesterday’s verdict, the appellate court had in 2013 delivered a similar judgment on the appeal but the Supreme Court faulted the judgement on the grounds that it was determined on an abandoned notice and grounds of appeal.

The apex court in its verdict delivered by Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, then ordered that the appeal be remitted to the Court of Appeal, Lagos for the hearing of the appeals on the “valid notice/grounds of appeal” filed on July 3, 2013.

Delivering judgement in the matter yesterday, the appellate court in its unanimous decision delivered by Justice C. E. Iyozoba (Mrs.) held that the appellants’ complaint was without merit.

The court held that “throughout the gamut of the trial, the appellants never denied that they were the manufacturers of the contaminated drug-” My Pikin” teething syrup.