Offa Poly student bags one year jail sentence over Cybercrime

Etim Ekpimah

Justice Sikiru Oyinloye of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin on Thursday, September 2, 2021 sentenced one Olaleye Rosheed, a student of Federal Polytechnic, Offa, to one year imprisonment over offences bordering on attempted cheating and internet fraud.

Olaleye, 21, was prosecuted on one count by the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

The charge reads: “That you, Olaleye Rosheed (Christiana Lopez) sometime in January, 2021 at Ilorin, Kwara State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court pretended to be one Christiana Lopez, a white female with a gmail account, christianalopez105@gmail.com, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 95 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the same Penal Code’”.

Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, said the defendant pleaded guilty when the charge was read to him.

Following his plea, counsel to the EFCC, Sesan Ola, reviewed the facts of the case through an operative of the EFCC. The witness narrated how intelligence report led to the arrest of the defendant on July 24, 2021.

Several fraudulent messages printed from Olaleye’s email including the iphone recovered from him at the point of arrest were tendered and admitted in evidence.

In his judgment, Justice Oyinloye said “I have carefully considered the facts and circumstances of this case, most especially the lone count charge, the plea of guilt entered by the defendant, his extra-judicial statements and unchallenged testimonies of the sole Prosecution Witness.”

He further said, “This Honourable Court holds the view that the prosecution has succeeded in proving its case beyond reasonable doubt. This court finds the defendant guilty of the allegation levelled against him and he is hereby convicted.”

Justice Oyinloye sentenced the convict to one year imprisonment with an option of fine of N200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand Naira Only) while the iPhone recovered from him was forfeited to the Federal Government.