Africa
A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Gwagwalada, has sentenced a 19-year-old man, Victor Ogbuabor, to one-year imprisonment for internet fraud.
Ogbuabor, also known as Michael Weber, was docked by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a count charge bordering on cheating by impersonation.
The defendant, however, pleaded guilty to the charge and begged the court for leniency.
Delivering judgment, Justice Aliyu Shafa, sentenced Ogbuabor and gave him an option to pay a fine of N200,000, warning him to desist from crime.
Shafa ordered that the Tecno Spark 4 cell phone and HP laptop being instruments used to perpetuate the crime be forfeited to the federal government.
He said that the instruments be sold by EFCC and the proceeds deposited in the EFCC crime account, adding that the convict should swear an affidavit to be of good behaviour for a period of one year.
The convict had earlier pleaded with the court to tamper justice with mercy, pledging that he would not indulge in such acts again.
“I regret my actions. I want to beg the court for mercy. I am deeply sorry for what I did.
“I am a changed person now, knowing fully well the consequences of my offence,” he said.
The Defence Counsel, Mr M.K. Nwogu, in support of the allocutus by the convict, had told the court that Ogbuabor was a first-time offender with no previous conviction record.
“We are pleading to the court to consider giving him a lesser sentence as a first-time offender. He is only 19 years old with a long future ahead of him.
“He has a vocation in tailoring which he will fall back to while he writes his JAMB examination seeking to gain admission into the university.
“During the time spent in custody, he had been able to reflect on his past actions and has undertaken not to go back to them again,” Lawyer Nwogu pleaded.
Nwogu appealed to the court to tamper justice with mercy while sentencing the convict.
Earlier, Counsel to EFCC, Ms F.I. Hamsani, told the court that Ogbuabor and his counsel had entered and signed a plea bargain on Sept. 18.
Hamsani said the convict sometimes in 2023 within the jurisdiction of the court attempted to cheat by pretending to be one Michael Weber, a German national.
She said that the convict in that assumed character chatted one Julia llie with the intent to cheat.
The offence, according to her, contravenes the provisions of Section 95 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the same Act. (NAN)
T
September 19, 2023 @ 19:00 GMT|
Tags:
