Why are youth corpers that are going to finish their service soon get themselves in this kind of mess?
Justice Adebisi Akinlade of the
Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, Tuesday, sentenced Ibok Benneth
Preston, a national youth corps member to eight months imprisonment for
attempting to commit internet fraud. The convict was prosecuted by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a ten count charge
bordering on forgery and possession of fraudulent proposal document to
the tune of $4,500 (Four Thousand Five Hundred Dollars). The offence is
contrary to Sections 363 of the criminal law of LagosState, vol. 44 No
11 of 2011.
He was arraigned on November 1, 2012, on allegation
that he fraudulently issued forged Union Bank of Nigeria Plc receipts,
letters and several other documents purportedly obtained from the
Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), using the false identity of
a Rev. Christopher Wallace, with intent to defraud unsuspecting
individuals over a contrived European Winning Lottery programme.
When
arraigned, he pleaded not guilty and he was detained in Kirikiri prison
while the case was adjourned till November 27, 2012, for hearing of the
bail application.
But on the adjourned date, Preston changed his
plea from ‘not guilty’ to “guilty", having entered into a plea bargain
agreement with the prosecution. Counsel to the accused person, J. Njoku,
urged the court to tamper justice with mercy as the accused had shown
remorse for his action, more so as he is a first offender.
The prosecution counsel, I.O. Daramola urged the court to convict the accused person in line with his plea.
Justice Akinlade consequently sentenced to eight months imprisonment effective from August 28, 2012, when he was arrested.
Preston’s
road to jail followed a petition by a prominent industrialist who
alleged that some unknown person hacked into his email account while his
access to the account was blocked. The unknown person started sending
mails to his contacts asking that money be sent to a certain bank
account. After thorough investigation, Preston was arrested and he
confessed to the crime.
No comments:
Post a Comment