Court sentences applicant to 6 months in prison for cyber-crimes

A Federal High Court in Ibadan on Monday sentenced a 21-year-old applicant, Adeleke Oluwaseyi, to six months imprisonment for internet fraud.

The convict, who had earlier pleaded guilty, but entered into a plea bargain, was arrested on June 19 by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Oyo State Command.

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, who sentenced Oluwaseyi, held that the court took into consideration the period the convict had spent in detention.

Abdulmalik ordered that the 150 dollars, phones, laptop and WiFi Router recovered from the convict be forfeited to the Federal Government through the EFCC.

Earlier, the Prosecutor, Mr S.M. Obiekute, told the court that the convict pretended to be a U.S. citizen with the name, Patrick Bob, on the internet.

“He used this fake identity to take financial advantage of his victims,” he said.

Obiekute, therefore, prayed the court to sentence the convict according to the plea bargain.

The defence counsel, Mr Adewale Ayoade, however, appealed for leniency.

“He is young; a youth affected by peer pressure and trend.

“And as the essence of punishment is to correct and deter, if he’s exposed to prison custody for too long, there’s a possibility that the essence of punishment might be forfeited,” he said.

The antigraft agency said that the offence contravened the provisions of Section 22(3)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud.