Justice Sikiru Oyinloye of a Kwara State High Court in Ilorin has sentenced a 19-year-old Chemistry student of the University of Ilorin, Ajayi Joshua Oluwatobi, to nine months imprisonment for defrauding three students seeking accommodation.
The convict ran into a problem when the management of the University of Ilorin reported his conducts to the EFCC that he defrauded three accommodation seekers.
The Ilorin zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) thus filed the fraud case against Ajayi.
The charge by the antigraft agency reads: “That you, Ajayi Joshua Oluwatobiloba, in the month of November 2019, in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did cheat by deceiving one Anjorin Oluwabukolami Eniola, a University of Ilorin student when you fraudulently induced her to pay N45,000.00 into the GTbank account 0452652140 of one Hassan Adefemi Daniel for hostel accommodation, a representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 320 of the Penal Code and punishable under section 322 of the same Law”
Justice Oyinloye thus convicted and sentenced the defendant to nine months imprisonment.
Justice Oyinloye also ordered Ajayi to pay the sum of N105,000 fine to serve as a deterrent to others.
“The defendant was brought before this honourable court on a three-count charge. The charges were read to him and he pleaded guilty. This court accepted the evidence of the prosecution, the one-way testimonies of the sole prosecution witness, the unchallenged and uncontradicted testimonies.
“This honourable court is of the view that the prosecution has proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The Court hereby finds you, Ajayi Joshua Oluwatobi, guilty of Count 1, 2 and 3. You are hereby convicted for the offence”, he said.
In his allocution, defendant’s lawyer, J.A.O Ayinde, urged the presiding judge to temper justice with mercy and give his client an option of fine rather than a custodial sentence.
Responding, prosecution counsel, Andrew Akoja, who said that issue of sentencing is within the discretion of the court, asked the court to use its discretion in sentencing the convict.
After hearing the parties, Justice Oyinloye sentenced Oluwatobi to nine months imprisonment on count 1, 2 and 3.
According to him, the sentence is to run concurrently while the convict is to also pay a fine of N105,000 only.
