Contempt of court: 'Side chick' Deborah Seyram Adablah jailed 45 days for threatening judge

Deborah Seyram Adablah, the former National Service personnel who gained notoriety after suing her alleged “sugar daddy” for breach of promise, has been sentenced to 45 days in prison by the Financial and Economic Division of the High Court in Accra.

The conviction comes after the court found her guilty of contempt for making defamatory statements against the judiciary on social media.

The legal drama, which began in 2023, revolved around Deborah’s civil suit against Ernest Kwesi Nimako, a senior banker she described as her “sugar daddy.” She claimed he had reneged on promises to provide her with financial and material benefits, including a car, monthly allowances, a lump sum for business capital, and medical and rent support.

The court ultimately dismissed her suit, ruling that the claims were grounded in a relationship deemed “immoral and illegal,” and based on fornication in exchange for financial gain. The judge found no legal grounds to uphold her claims and awarded costs against her, including an order to return a Honda Civic vehicle involved in the dispute. She was also ordered to pay GH¢6,000 and had the name of the bank removed from the suit.

Despite the ruling, Deborah defied the court’s directive to surrender the vehicle and later posted two controversial videos online, accusing the judiciary of bias and corruption. In the videos, she leveled direct accusations at the presiding judge, Justice John Bosco Nabarese.

“This Judge John Bosco Nabarese said they needed seven days for the judgment to be effective if I had failed to deliver the vehicle as Judge Olivia Owusu had ordered. But he refused to set it aside and now he's claiming my lawyers insulted him,” she alleged.

In a direct challenge to the court’s authority, she added, “You, Judge John Bosco, what they did was wrong but you're not allowing them to bring the car back. You are joking. What is preventing you from doing the right thing?”

Her tirade escalated with a thinly veiled threat: “Be ready to dance to this drum you are beating. You cannot be sitting there, chopping salaries that are coming from my menstruation and still sideline me.”

She further questioned the judiciary’s integrity and belittled the contempt proceedings. “That contempt case is dead on arrival. I try to advise others not to go to court because I know the system but always remember: the judiciary is an arm on its own, but one full of spirits. So, we shall see.”

Vowing to appeal the judgment, she concluded, “As an old man, you should be retiring in peace, not carrying young spirits with you but since you've chosen that path, you will carry them.”

Her comments led to the issuance of a bench warrant and a subsequent contempt trial. The court ruled that her statements constituted a direct attack on the dignity and integrity of the judiciary.

She has been ordered to serve a 45-day custodial sentence and to appear before the court to show cause why further sanctions should not be imposed.

The case has sparked widespread public debate about freedom of expression, judicial independence, and the consequences of disrespecting court authority.