By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
An internet fraudster, Sulaiman Toheeb Gbenga, was at the weekend sentenced to nine months imprisonment by the Special Offences Court sitting at Ikeja, Lagos Nigeria.
Gbenga was arrested sometime in June 2020, following intelligence received by the Anti-graft agency about his fraudulent activities. He was subsequently arraigned on September 17, 2020 on one-count charge bordering on possession of fraudulent documents containing false pretence.After hearing the charge against him, he pleaded guilty to the one-count charge:
Consequently, the prosecution counsel, Suleiman Ismail, reviewed the facts of the case and urged the court to convict and sentence the defendant accordingly.
Delivering judgement, the trial judge, Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo found defendant guilty of the offence and sentenced him to nine months imprisonment.
The Judge also ordered the forfeiture of all items recovered from him to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The one-count charge reads:
“That you, Sulaimon Toheeb Gbenga, on or about the 10th day of June, 2020 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable court, knowingly had in your possession a document containing false pretences, wherein you held yourself out as one “Susan Taylor, which representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 320 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.”
