By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
A 24-year-old plumber, Precious Oruche was on Tuesday convicted after his arraignment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, for alleged cybercrime.
He pleaded guilty to the one count charge and was convicted accordingly. However the court deferred his sentence till November 1.
The defendant was arraigned before Justice Ayokunle Faji, on a one-count charge of impersonating another on Instagram.
After listening to the charge preffered against him, he pleaded guilty to the charge.
After his plea, the prosecutor, Mr S.I Suleiman, reviewed the facts of the case through a witness, Mr Daniel John, an operative with the EFCC.
The witness told the court how the defendant was arrested following intelligence by the commission.
He said that among items recovered from the defendant include an iphone 11, a gray colour Toyota Venza car model 2010, one gold necklace, three gold bracelets and one gold ring.
The prosecutor then applied to show the witness the items seized from the defendant and the witness confirmed same to the court.
Then the prosecutor tendered the items before the court and they were admitted and marked as exhibits A to K
Meanwhile, the court stood down the matter briefly so as to examine the Toyota Venza car exhibit, which the prosecution said was parked in the court’s premises.
After examining same as well as the chasis number, the court also admitted and marked the car as exhibit L.
The prosecutor urged the court to proceed and convict the defendant based on his plea as well as the evidences led by prosecution.
Consequently the court held: ‘In line with Section 274 of the ACJA, I find you guilty of the said charge and I pronounce you guilty.”
When asked to tell the court about himself, the convict said that he is a plumber born on November 20, 2000, adding that he is also a secondary school graduate
He added that he made the sum of 6,500 dollars from his illegal deal.
During a plea for mercy, on his behalf, defence counsel urged the court to tamper justice with mercy in sentencing the convict, as he did not waste the time of the court but pleaded guilty.
The court has adjourned the case until November 1, for sentence of the convict.
The court directed that the convict be remanded in custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service pending sentence.
According to the charge, the convict committed the offence in September 2022. He was said to have fraudulently impersonated one Nancy Dorer on his Instagram page, by holding out himself as such, so as to gain advantage to himself .
The offence contravenes the provisions of Section 22(2) of the Cybercrime Prohibition Act, 2015.