A Federal High Court in Onitsha, Anambra State, South-east Nigeria, has sentenced 41 internet fraudsters to one-year imprisonment each.
Trial and conviction
The 41 convicts were earlier arrested for their involvement in separate internet frauds, according to a statement by the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday.
The convicts, upon arraignment, pleaded guilty to one-count charge separately filed against them.
They were prosecuted by the EFCC.
Some of the 41 charges for the different convicts included obtaining by false pretence, possession of fraudulent documents, impersonation and aiding in committing an offence.
One of the separate charges reads: “That you, Uwakwe Chikezie Raphael sometime in 2024 in Onitsha, Anambra State within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court in Nigeria, fraudulently impersonated the identity of Everly Ruby, a female foreigner through a Google account, via your iphone X with intent to obtain money from unsuspecting foreign nationals and in order to gain advantage of yourself and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22 (3) (a) (b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22 (4) of the same Act”.
After the convicts pleaded guilty to the charges which were separately read to them, Ikechukwu Ani, counsel to the EFCC, prayed the court to convict and sentence them accordingly.
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The judgement
Delivering judgement between Thursday and Friday, the court ruled that the convicts were guilty as charged.
However, defence counsels, Wisdom Ogbonna, Bernard Okeke, James Nwatarali and Arinze Anyigo, appealed to the court for leniency and to temper justice with mercy in sentencing their clients adding that they have shown enough remorse for their actions.
The court, presided over by Justices S. M. Shuaibu and Hauwa Inuwa, subsequently, sentenced the convicts to one-year imprisonment each with an option of fine of N100,000.
The justices also ordered that the convicts should be involved in community service in line with Section 462 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.
They further ordered that items recovered from convicts, which include mobile phones and laptops, should be auctioned through the EFCC and proceeds paid into the federal government’s Treasury Single Account.
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