Crime
Court sentences accountant to 304 years imprisonment for forgery, fraud
An Enugu State High Court has sentenced the Accountant of the Federal College of Education, Eha-Amufu, Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State, Emmanuel Sombo, to 304 years imprisonment for forgery and fraud.
Sombo, who was convicted last Thursday, after a lengthy trial that started in 2010, had pleaded not guilty to the 61-count charges slammed on him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He was alleged to have, on several occasions, forged the signatures of the principal officers of the institution on promissory notes, which he used to withdraw amounts running into N34 million from the institution’s first bank account for his personal use. The principal officers, including the Provost, the Registrar and the Bursar, denied signing the cheques with which the accused withdrew the monies.
Findings by the EFCC’s forensic experts, who took samples of the principal officers’ signatures, confirmed that the signatures on the cheques used in the transactions were forged.
Delivering judgement on the matter, the presiding judge, Kenneth Okpe, ruled that the facts before the court proved that the accused personally forged the signatures.
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He said: “The court is satisfied that the circumstantial evidence placed before it is cogent, compelling and points irresistibly to the fact that the accused person committed the offence as charged. He acted alone and is still alone as he could not call even one witness from the College to support his defence.
“These elements of the offence are present in the instant case, and I, therefore, hold that the prosecution has proved all the ingredients of the offence of forgery beyond every reasonable doubt. Accordingly, I find the accused guilty of forgery as charged in counts 32 to 61.
“All the elements of stealing are present in this case. The accused person, in his statement to the EFCC, said he knew that the disputed cheques were fraudulently issued, but he was asked by his boss to play along.
“He cashed the cheques, disbursed the proceeds in a manner that permanently deprived the Federal College of Education Eha-Amufu, of the ownership of the money. I, therefore, find the accused person guilty of the offence of stealing as charged in counts 1 to 31.”
Before the judgement was passed, the defence counsel, Gabriel Ibu, had pleaded for leniency, arguing that the accused person was the breadwinner of his family.
He said: “He has a wife and three children, and his absence will affect their education. We urge the court to be lenient as the punishment which should serve as a deterrent will serve its purpose and not destroy the young man.”
Counsel to the EFCC, however, urged the court to ensure that justice was served, adding that the accused should be made to restitute the amount he had stolen from the school.
After listening to both parties, the judge sentenced Sombo to seven years imprisonment for each of the offences of stealing in counts one to 31 in the amended information (217 years). However, the entire sentence will run concurrently.
Court sentences accountant to 304 years imprisonment for forgery, fraud
The Anambra State Police Command has foiled a cult initiation ceremony in Nawfia, Njikoka Local Government Area of the state.
Spokesperson for the Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Awka.
According to Ikenga, the operation was carried out by police operatives around 9:30am on June 15, leading to the arrest of six suspects at the scene.
Recovered during the raid were one Jojef pump action gun, two cartridges, and a golden-coloured Lexus SUV with registration number ATN 202 AE. Other items found include two cutlasses, two scissors, a cap bearing the inscription of the Supreme Vikings Confraternity, charms, and substances suspected to be hard drugs.
“They are currently undergoing police interrogation to get more insight into their modus operandi, after which the case will be charged to court on the conclusion of the investigations,” Ikenga stated.
The police spokesperson reassured residents of the command’s unwavering commitment to fighting cultism and other related crimes across the state.
An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, on Wednesday, remanded two persons, Olaitan Fasasi and Kehinde Tobiloba in a correctional facility over alleged attempted murder.
Fasasi, 40, and Tobiloba, 26, whose addresses were not provided, are being charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and membership of a secret society.
The Magistrate, Mr L.A Owolabi, did not take the plea of the defendants for want of jurisdiction.
Owolabi directed the police to forward the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice.
He thereafter adjourned the case until May 31 for mention.
The Prosecutor, Josephine Ikhayere, told the court that the defendants committed the offences at about 5.02p.m on Feb. 15, at Mushin, Lagos.
She said that Fasasi, Tobiloba and others now at large, attempted to commit murder by shooting at a resident, Alfred Ademola.
“They armed themselves with a locally made gun. They belong to Eiye Confraternity, a group proscribed by law,”, she said.
Ikhayere said that the offences contravened Sections 230(1) and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2012.
He said that the actions of the defendants also contravened Section 2(3)(a)(b)(c)(d) of the unlawful societies and Cultism Law of Lagos State Law.
An Area Court in Jos, on Tuesday, sentenced one Jeptha John, to three months imprisonment for stealing a Redmi mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The judge, Shawomi Bokkos, sentenced the John after he pleaded guilty to the offence.
The judge, however, gave the convict an option to pay N20, 000 fine and N50, 000 restitution to the complainant.
Bokkos said that if the convict defaulted in paying the restitution, three months should be added to his sentence to make it six months imprisonment.
Earlier, the police prosecutor, Insp Monday Dabit, told the court that the case was reported at the B Division Police Station, Jos, on Dec. 1, 2024, by Ms Nerat Danjuma.
He said that the complainant alleged that the defendant trespassed into her house and stole her mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The prosecutor further told the court that the offence contravened the Plateau State Penal Code, Law of Northern Nigeria.
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