A High Court in the Federal Capital Territory, on Thursday, sentenced a suspect, Okwo Mark, to three months in prison for impersonating an American citizen, Stella Coleman, working as an FBI agent.
The defendant who perpetrated the crime was arraigned by the EFCC.
Mark pleaded guilty to the charge
and begged the court for leniency.
Delivering the judgment, Justice
Aliyu Shafa, sentenced Mark to three months imprisonment or to pay a fine of
N50,000.
The judge also ordered Mark to
clean the EFCC office from 8am till noon under the supervision of an official
of the legal department.
He ordered that the phone used by
the convict to perpetrate the crime be destroyed, adding that it should be
burnt and evidence of the destruction should be brought before the court.
“I have carefully listened to the
plea of allocutus made by the said convict and the defence counsel.
“The rate of internet fraud
especially among youths in the society is so alarming and the court will not
allow the convict to go unpunished as this will serve as a deterrent to others
that want to toll the same path,” he ruled.
Shafa ordered that the proceeds
from the crime which was $500 be returned to the nominal complainant and the
receipt brought back to the court as evidence as this will help to portray the
country well.
Earlier, the convict had pleaded
with the court to temper justice with mercy, adding that he would not indulge
in such an act again.
The defence counsel, Ms B.E.
Danjuma, in support of the allocutus by the convict, told the court that Mark,
who had no previous conviction record in Nigeria, was remorseful and repentant.
She said, “Mark is a young man
who was cut up with bad company. He is just 21 years old with a promising
future. He regrets the consequences of his act.
“The convict has shown remorse
and genuinely repented over the crime he has committed against the nation, by
way of expressing genuine repentance, he has restituted the proceeds of the
crime which is the sum of 500 U.S dollars. The convict is a first-time
offender. We urge my Lord to temper justice with mercy,” she pleaded.
The EFCC counsel, M.M.Gwani, told
the court that Mark, sometime in 2022, within the jurisdiction of the court,
cheated.
Gwani said the convict deceived
while pretending to be an American citizen, Stella Coleman, working as an FBI
agent.
He said the offence contravened
the provisions of Section 320 of the Penal Code Act Law of the Federation
(Abuja) 1990 and was punishable under Section 322 of the same Act.
He pleaded with the court that
the instrument used for the crime be forfeited and the proceeds returned.
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