Lawyer counsels Nigerians on legal implications of standing as surety

Barr. Soni Egbaji, an Abuja-based lawyer, on Wednesday advised the public on  legal implications to consider before standing as sureties in criminal cases.

Egbaji told the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) in Abuja that most times would-be sureties,  do not know that there are usually consequences to face, in the event that the defendant jumps bail.

” A surety is a person or persons who undertake the custody of the accused standing trial for an offence and guarantee his subsequent appearance either at the Police station or in court at a fixed date and place.

” In other words, once bail has been granted to the accused, the surety enters into an undertaking by executing a bail bond to always produce the accused person in court until the trial is completed.

“As earlier stated, the need for a surety often arises when an accused person seeks bail from either a police station or in a court of law”, he emphasized.

He said that the liberty of an accused person was important and was equally guaranteed as his Fundamental Right under Section 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

”Because every accused person is presumed innocent until proven otherwise by a court of law, the person therefore is entitled to bail, especially when standing trial for bailable offence.

“Since every accused person in Section 36 (1) of the Constitution is also presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of law, there is always the need to secure the bail of the accused through the instrumentality of a surety.

“The court is however not bound to grant bail at all times to a person accused of a crime even if there are ready sureties to undertake on behalf of such accused persons.

“This reason stems from the fact that the right to bail is qualified and not absolute. There are some crimes not readily bailable especially when the liberty of such an accused will put the lives of others at stake or is against national security”, he stressed

Egbaji warned that it should be noted however that, whenever the accused failed to turn up for his trial, the surety will be held responsible to produce him or risk forfeiting the bail bond which he or she had executed except the court was satisfied with the reason given by the surety.

He equally said that the bail bond could either be a stated sum of money, a piece of land or property which was not to be paid or forfeited unless in the event where the accused jumps bail or where the surety cannot produce the accused before the court he or she had undertaken to do so.

” There are legal implications of standing as a surety to a crime suspect, some of which are that the surety may stand a chance of forfeiting a bail bond or recognizance entered in the cause of undertaking to produce the accused in court.

“This usually happens when the accused jumps bail or is nowhere to be found. The bail bond could be money or property and usually in felonies or high crimes, it involves several millions of naira and expensive landed properties in choice locations of big cities like Abuja.

“It is therefore always advisable to stand as a surety for a person you know very well”, he advised.

The lawyer further stated another consequence a surety may face when a person whom he stood in for, decides to jump bail by failing to appear before the court during his trial.

“The surety may also serve a term of imprisonment of about six months with or without an option of fine if after inquiry by the court, he cannot produce the accused person on an agreed date and place, or forfeit the bail bond”, the lawyer continued.

Egbaji deviated a bit to also advise defendants planning on jumping bail to think twice before embarking on such an act and putting their sureties in trouble as “one good turn deserves another”.

“An accused person who has secured bail through a surety and subsequently jumps bail may not have another opportunity to get another bail if a bench warrant is issued and he is re-arrested.

“This is because no person may be willing to stake their neck for such an accused any longer because as It is often said, once beaten, twice shy”, he counseled.

” I will conclude by saying that, everyone has a right to bail if accused of any offence and such person is also entitled to a surety to guarantee his attendance in court to stand trial.

“I will say that but as a surety you must make sure that you know the accused too well before staking your head and resources for them considering the legal implications highlighted earlier”, he cautioned.