Court jails famous actress for spraying, stepping on Naira notes

A judge, Chukwujekwu Aneke, of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Thursday, convicted and sentenced Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, aka Simi Gold, an actress, to six months imprisonment for spraying and stepping on the new Naira notes at a social event in Lagos.

The actress is also a social media ‘serial entrepreneur’ who deals in skincare, fuel sales, facilitation of foreign travel through visa acquisitions, and other businesses.

She was first arraigned on 13 February 2023 by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on two-count charges, to which she pleaded “not guilty”.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the 31-year-old cosmetologist cum actress was arrested after the video of her spraying and stepping on the newly redesigned Naira notes at a party surfaced online.

In the viral video, she also flaunted wads of the new Naira notes. She was subsequently handed over to the EFCC on Thursday for further investigations.

Items recovered from her at the point of arrest along Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, included a Range Rover and iPhone mobile devices.

She was subsequently granted bail on 15 February 2023.

Court proceeding

One of the court charges reads: “That you, Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, on the 28th day of January 2023, at Monarch Event Centre, Lekki, Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, whilst dancing during a social occasion, tampered with the sum of N100,000.00 (issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same in the said occasion and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act, 2007.”

However, at the resumed hearing on Thursday, Omoseyin changed her “not guilty” plea to “guilty” because of the overwhelming evidence against her.

Following her “guilty plea”, the prosecution counsel, Z.B. Atiku, called Abubakar Marafa, an operative of the EFCC, to review the facts of the matter.

Mr Marafa recalled that the defendant was arrested by officers of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, on 1 February 2023 and was handed over to the Commission on 2 February 2023 for further investigation.”

According to him, the defendant’s statement was taken under caution, where she stated that she attended a friend’s wedding on 28 January 2023 and that she sprayed N200 and N100 notes on the occasion.

He said, “The defendant was processed, and the videos of where she sprayed the money were found on her phone. Also, further investigations were carried out, and the event centre management was invited. They also brought in the video footage of the said event.”

After that, the prosecution counsel further applied to tender, in evidence, the letter from the ICPC and other accompanying documents.

They included the extra-judicial statement of the defendant, a forensic report of her phone, a CD of videos showing her spraying the naira note, a flash drive from the event centre, and the statement of the centre’s representative.

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Mr Aneke admitted them as exhibits and convicted the defendant as charged.

The defence counsel, Afuye Adegbola, pleaded for leniency, saying, “She’s a first-time offender; she is a mother-of-one; she is remorseful and pleads for mercy.”

He further pleaded for a non-custodial sentence on behalf of the convict.

Delivering judgment, Mr Aneke sentenced the defendant to six months imprisonment, effective from Thursday, with an option of a N300,000 fine to be paid into the consolidated revenue account of the federation.

In her statement to the Commission, she claimed that she received the new Naira notes from her fans at the party and did not know who gave her the money.

Items recovered from her at the point of arrest included a Range Rover.