An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday discharged Miss Comfort Emmason of the offence of unruly behaviour and assault against flight crew members aboard an Ibom Air aircraft from Uyo to Lagos on Sunday, following the withdrawal of the five-count charge filed against her by the Police.
Magistrate Olanrewaju Salami struck out the charges after the Airport Police Command applied to withdraw the case for further investigation.
Miss Emmason’s arraignment on Monday came after Ibom Air lodged a complaint with the Police, alleging she acted in an unruly manner, assaulted flight crew, and caused damage to airline property during the August 10, 2025 flight.
Ibom Air: Prosecution withdraws case for further investigation
At the resumed hearing, the Prosecutor, Woman Inspector Oluwabunmi Adeitan, informed the court of new developments that warranted the case’s withdrawal.
She stated that the Commissioner of Police, Lagos Airport Command, had directed the withdrawal to enable further investigation into the matter.
“There is a new development and new facts that emerged that necessitated withdrawal of the charge for further investigation,” Inspector Adeitan told the court.
She tendered the application, which Magistrate Salami admitted.
The Defence Counsel, Adams Atakpa and Mrs. Adefunke Adewale, raised no objections.
When urged by the court for clarification, Insp. Adeitan confirmed the withdrawal was unconditional, stressing that the intention was to conduct a deeper probe into the incident.
“We want to withdraw the charge. We don’t want the defendant to be before the court now,” Adeitan added.
Magistrate’s caution to the defendant
In delivering his ruling, Magistrate Salami cautioned Miss Emmason to exercise some level of wisdom in her future conduct, warning that she might not be so fortunate if faced with similar charges again.
“I hope you would learn from this experience and become a better person,” the Magistrate said, before striking out the charges and formally discharging her.
According to the charge sheet, the defendant, Miss Comfort Emmason was charged for behaving in an unruly and disorderly manner by shouting on top of her voice, abusing, and assaulting the flight crew, and refusing to disembark after the aircraft landed, in violation of Section 4(1)(a) and punishable under Section 4(2) of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Bye-Law 2005.
Another count stated that the defendant assaulted one Juliana Edward slapping and hitting her cheeks with her right hand, and thereby, contravenes the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The defendant was also charged for assaulting one Jokpame Sagun by hitting her face with your slippers and for willfully damaging the aircraft divider curtain, valued at $2,500, belonging to Ibom Air.
She was also charged for willful damage of a braided wig by dragging and tearing the wig worth ₦110,000 belonging to Juliana Comfort.
