By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
A Kwara State High Court in Ilorin presided over by Justice Mahmood Abdulgafar has convicted three young men and sentenced them to various terms of imprisonment over internet fraud.
The Ilorin Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) charged the three young men for the offences.
The convicts are: Tesleem Ajayi, Oladimeji Oluwatimileyin and John Inalegwu Okewu.
While Ajayi and Oluwatimileyin were convicted on two counts each, Okewu was convicted on one count of fraud by Justice Abdulgafar.
One of the counts against Ajayi reads:
“That you, Tesleem Ajayi, (Alias Alvarado Mall), sometime in the month of July 2020, in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did cheat by impersonation by portraying yourself as a white female named Alvarado Mall to one Danielle Fatai and in that guise induced him to send you $100USD via Amazon gift card, a representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 324 of the Penal Code and punishable under the same Section of the Law”.
The charge against Oluwatimileyin, reads: “That you, Oladimeji Oluwatimileyin (a.k.a Snyder Paul) sometime in October 2019 or thereabout at Offa, Kwara State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court dishonestly induced one Linda Rhind Medeiros, a white woman to send you an E-bay gift card worth $30 USD, when you knowingly pretended and represented yourself to be a white military man Paul who was in love with her, a representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 and punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code Laws of Northern Nigeria”.
The charge against Okewu reads: “That you, John Inalegwu Okewu on or about September 2020, in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did attempt to cheat by personation by portraying yourself as a single white male named John Roderick to one female named Marling Alfaro in order to induce her to send you money a representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 95 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the same Law “
After hearing the charge, each of the convicts pleaded guilty to the alleged offence.
The prosecuting counsel, Andrew Akoja, while reviewing the facts of the case led the witnesses in evidence and tendered exhibits against the defendants.
In his judgment, Justice Abdulgafar held that, “Based on the unchallenged and uncontradicted testimonies of the prosecution witnesses, the plea of the defendants and exhibits tendered, this Honourable Court holds the view that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubts”.
The Judge, thereafter convicted and sentenced Ajayi and Oluwatimileyin to four months imprisonment, while John bagged three months.
“All the phones and money recovered from the convicts are also forfeited to the Federal Government”, the judge ordered.
