Two students of the Kwara State University, (KWASU), Malete, were on Tuesday, 1st February 2022 convicted and sentenced to various jail terms by Justice Adenike Akinpelu of a Kwara State High Court in Ilorin for offences bordering on cyber-fraud.
The duo of Animasahun Rokeeb Mayowa and Lawal Alamin Tewogbola, who are natives of Oyo and Offa in Oyo and Kwara states respectively, were prosecuted on separate charges by the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The defendants pleaded guilty to the charges against them. Following their plea, counsel to the EFCC, Rasheedat Alao, through Salaudeen Abdulrasaq and Kaludeen Yahaya, who are operatives of the Commission and witnesses, reviewed the facts of the cases against the defendants.
The witnesses told the court how intelligence reports led to the arrest of the defendants in the Malete Area of Kwara State with several incriminating documents. Several documents including their extrajudicial statements and iPhones were tendered and admitted in evidence.
Alao thereafter urged the court to consider the plea of the defendants, their extrajudicial statements, and exhibits tendered and convict them as charged.
Justice Akinpelu, in her judgment, agreed that the prosecution had established its case against each of the defendants. Consequently, he pronounced them guilty.
The judge sentenced Animasahun to six months imprisonment with an option of a fine of One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N150,000.00) only. The court ordered that a Toyota Camry Car 2007 model, which was recovered from him at the point of arrest and the iPhone which he used to perpetrate the crime be forfeited to the federal government.
Similarly, Justice Akinpelu sentenced Lawal to six months imprisonment on each of the two counts against him, which would run concurrently with the option of One Hundred Thousand Naira (N100,000.00) only fine on each count. The court also ordered the forfeiture of the sum of Two Hundred and Twenty-Five Dollars ($225) only, which he benefited from the crime and iPhone 6, which was used as an instrument for the crime, to the federal government.
