MICHAEL AKINOLA
A jobless man, Olanrewaju Abbas, has been sentenced to one year imprisonment in Lagos State for being in possession of false documents and posing as a female in order to defraud people on a dating website.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that it was the judgment of Ikeja Special Offences Court presided by Justice Rahmon Oshodi, who sentenced Abbas to prison term in Ikoyi Correctional Centre, following his guilty plea to the one-count charge of possession of false document.
However, Justice Oshodi, gave the convict an option of N100,000 fine and ordered that all items recovered from him be forfeited to the Federal Government.
The Counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Umar Kyari, while presenting the facts, submitted that the convict was among a number of suspected cybercriminals arrested in Baruwa, Iyana-Ipaja in Lagos.
“He was arrested on 19th October, 2021 alongside others and under interrogation, he admitted to engaging in dating scam and identity theft.
“He confessed that he usually disguises as a female with many of his targets being in Australia. An iPhone 8 was recovered from him which was the proceed of the crime, which he benefited more than N400,000 and 100 dollars.”
The prosecution, thereafter, tendered in evidence his extrajudicial statement, the fraudulent documents printed out from his device, the manager’s cheque of N400,000 issued as restitution and the iPhone which were admitted into evidence, following no objections from the defence counsel, Mr. Kayode Okimoba.
The prosecutor prayed the Court to convict him as charged and that the manager’s cheque and phone recovered from him be forfeited to the Federal Government.
The defence counsel, in his allocutus, had pleaded with the Court to temper justice with mercy and to give the defendant a second chance.
“He is also a first-time offender who has regretted his action and promised never to go back to it,” Okimoba said.
The convict, who was also given opportunity to address the Court, pleaded for mercy.
Hence, the Court sentenced him accordingly and he was remanded in custody pending when he will meet the option of fine or serve his prison sentence.