Remember the six men and a lady who defrauded a man of millions of Naira by swapping his SIM card, and were arraigned in Kaduna a day ago?
Well, the six men have changed their plea to ‘guilty’ and opted for a plea bargain which led to their conviction and sentencing. The lady maintains she is not guilty and is to stand trial.
Justice Mohammed Tukur consequently convicted and sentenced the six men to five years in prison with an option of N500,000 (five hundred thousand naira) fine each.
The judge also ordered that, in addition to the fine, Ugonna Nelson Owete and Ikenna Henry are to serve a mandatory five months each in prison starting from the date of their arrest.
Justice Tukur further ordered the convicts to write an undertaking of good behaviour, after serving their jail term, to the EFCC.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC Kaduna Zonal office, which secured their conviction listed the six convicts as Okafor Samuel Obinna, Chigbo Pascal Chidi, Oha Chukwujekwu, Ahamefula Francis Izuchukwu, Ugonna Nelson Owete and Ikenna Henry.
At the resumed hearing on October 11, S.H. Sa’ad counsel to the EFCC informed the court that the matter is slated for consideration of plea bargain application filed by Usman Liman on behalf of the defendants.
While the 7th defendant, Chinyere Aniobi Jessica pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the charges, the six other defendants pleaded guilty to the two count amended charge, prompting the prosecuting counsel to urge the court to convict and sentence them accordingly.
Usman, counsel to the defendants prayed the court to temper justice with mercy while sentencing.
Sa’ad asked the court to fix a date for commencement of the trial of Jessica who pleaded not guilty to the charges against her. The case was adjourned to October 15, 2019 for hearing of her bail application.
