Kaduna court jails fraudsters

Babajide Williams

Justice Nasiru.U. Sadiq of the Kaduna State High Court has convicted and sentenced five internet fraudsters to various terms of imprisonment for cheating by impersonation.

The fraudsters: Ephraim Andrew Maude (a.k.a Chris Hugo), Genesis Daniel (a.k.a Tyler Wine), Henriatta Kantona, George Funom Khah and Haruna Tisan Jeremiah, were jailed on Monday, September 19, 2022, after pleading guilty to one- count separate charge, bordering on internet fraud and cheating by impersonation, upon their arraignment by the Kaduna Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

The one count reads: “That you, Ephraim Andrew Maude (a.ka Chris Hugo), sometime in July 2022 at Kaduna within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, committed an offence, to wit; falsely presented yourself as Chris Hugo, and in that assumed character cheated one Donald of the total sum of $50.00 (Fifty US Dollars) via ‘silverdadies app’ (a social media application and gay site) and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 308 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law of 2017 and punishable under Section 309 of the same Law.

The defendants pleaded guilty to their respective charges when it was read to them individually.

Upon their plea of guilty, prosecution counsels: Matiyak .Y. John and P.C Onyeneho prayed the court to convict them accordingly but defence counsels: Luqman Shittu, Abu Usman. A Abdulsalam Nurudeen and Abubakar .A. Muhammad, prayed for the mercy of the court for the defendants, saying that they are remorseful.

Justice Sadiq thereafter convicted and sentenced Maude to three years imprisonment, with an option of a fine of One Hundred Thousand Naira(N100,000.00). He also forfeited an Apple iPhone 7 plus used in carrying out the crime while the sum of $50.00 returned by the defendant is forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The judge convicted and sentenced Daniel to three months imprisonment or pay a fine of N100,000.00 (One Hundred Thousand Naira). He forfeited an S10 LTE mobile phone.

Kantona bagged three years imprisonment, with an option of a fine of N150,000.00 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) and forfeited the Apple iPhone XS Max and Infinix Hot 9 phones used to carry out the offence to the government.

Both Khah and Jeremiah were convicted and sentenced to three months of imprisonment each. While Khah was given an option to pay a fine of N150,000.00, Jeremiah had an option of N100, 000.  Both forfeited their phones to the government, while Jeremiah restitutes Eighty United States Dollars ($80) to his victim.

The convicts started their journey to the Correctional Centre when they were arrested by operatives of the Kaduna Zonal Command of the EFCC, for internet-related offences. They were charged to court and convicted.