CYRIACUS IZUEKWE
A domestic staff, Genesis Ezebong and his brother, Micheal Ezebong including one Ikade Moses will spend the rest of their lives in prison custody having been sentenced to life imprisonment after they conspired and were involved in armed robbery operation in Lagos State.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that an Ikeja Special offences Court sentenced the trio to life imprisonment after they were tried and found guilty of conspiracy and armed robbery.
The Presiding Judge, Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo, held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt the circumstantial evidence against the defendants and sentenced them accordingly.
The convicts were arraigned on 18th December, 2020 and they pleaded not guilty and the trial commenced on 11th January, 2022 and lasted for several months before the conviction.
The Prosecuting Counsel, Omowumi Bajulaye, during the trial of the convicts, had told the Court that they committed the offence of conspiracy and armed robbery on January 13, 2019, at No 222 Ikorodu Road, Palm Groove, Lagos.
She said that the trio while armed with cutlass, shovel and other dangerous weapons, robbed one Daniel of Compact Laptop, one Apple laptop, gold and costumes, jewelries, Blackberry phones, one digital camera, soccer shoes and two other phones belonging to one Titilope Akeredolu.
The prosecution, during trial, called three witnesses and tendered documents such as defendants’ statements, which were admitted as exhibits.
The witnesses, who had testified before the Court included Inspector Okunade Olumuyiwa, Titilope Akeredolu and Investigative Police officer, Inspector Olawale Oni.
The witnesses had narrated to the Court how Akeredolu’s domestic worker conspired with others, who were armed with dangerous weapons, broke into his boss’s house with his gang after he had left to Church, and locked the security man as well as other occupants in the toilet.
Akeredolu said after she went to Church on Sunday morning, she received a call from the security man at the gate, who told her that the first convict, Genesis Ezebong, her domestic staff, went to her house with cutlass and broke into her apartment to rob.
She told the Court that the gateman narrated the robbery incident to her; how they were locked in the toilet, and how the convicts broke into her room around 10.30am.
The Court found them culpable and sentenced them accordingly.