Joseph Jericho, a 25-year-old cobbler, was on Friday sentenced to 25 years imprisonment by an Ikeja High Court for stealing two laptops and three mobile phones from a student.
Jericho of No. 14, Church St., Ilaje, Ebute Meta, Lagos, was charged for conspiracy and armed robbery.
He, however, denied the charges. Handing down her verdict, Justice Raliatu Adebiyi, said the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubts. She said:“The defendant is hereby sentenced to 25 years in prison each for the offences of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and armed robbery. “The sentence shall run concurrently and shall begin from the period of his remand.”
During the trial, Mr S.A. Aigoro, the counsel to the defendant in his allocutus, had appealed to the court to temper justice with mercy. “The defendant has been in prison custody since 2011, I pray that this court has mercy on him.” According to the prosecuting counsel, Mrs O. Ahmed-Muili, Jericho committed the offences alongside others who are now at large on June 26, 2011 at No. 4, Baale St., Ilaje, Ebute Meta, Lagos.
Jericho and his accomplices while allegedly armed with guns and cutlasses, robbed Mr Ifesinachi Ogodo, a student, of his two laptops, three mobile phones and N5,000. The offences contravened Sections 402 (2), (a) and 403 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State 2003.