A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt on Tuesday granted bail in the sum of N2 million to two medical doctors standing trial for alleged manslaughter.
The doctors, Dr Jude Okpani, a gynaecologist (1st defendant), and Dr Isiah-Tunde Akinlade, an anaesthetist (2nd defendant), were arraigned by the Rivers State Government through the Ministry of Justice on a two-count charge of manslaughter and negligence.
According to the charge, the two doctors are alleged to have caused the death of one Rebekah Tamunotorukubu-Sekidika on February 2, 2024, at a clinic in Port Harcourt, an offence contrary to section 325 of the 1999 Criminal Code of Rivers State.
The accused are also alleged to have neglected to administer the required dose of local spinal anaesthesia to Rebekah Tamunotorukubu-Sekidika, which recklessly ruptured her uterus during a medical procedure, leading to her death.
When the charges were read to them in court, the doctors pleaded not guilty.
Their counsel, C.T. Walter, orally applied for bail, which was not opposed by the prosecution counsel, Christiana Tombari Bodo, a Senior State Counsel in the Ministry of Justice, though she requested stringent conditions from the court due to the sensitivity of the case.
The trial judge, Justice Jumbo Stephens, after listening to the defence and prosecution counsels, granted bail to the two accused in the sum of N1 million each, with two sureties who must be the Chairman and Secretary of the Nigeria Medical Association, Rivers State Chapter.
Justice Stephens also directed that the sureties must provide two passport photographs, with their addresses verified by an official of the court. Photocopies of either a valid driver’s licence, international passport, or voter’s card must also be deposited in court.
For the accused persons, Justice Stephens said, “The 1st and 2nd defendants, who have just been admitted to bail, are also to deposit two copies of their passport photographs with the registrar of this court. These are the bail conditions.”
Justice Stephens thereafter adjourned the matter to 20th and 27th January 2025 for a ‘definite’ hearing.
Our reporter recalls that Miss Rebekah Tamunotorukubu-Sekidika, 24 years old at the time, a first-class graduate of Microbiology from Benson Idahosa University in Benin, Edo State, was preparing for a trip to the United Kingdom for a master’s degree when the incident occurred.