Your sentence will be severe, Court tells defendant
He said that the complainant only asked one of his workers to take N4,000 from the N200,000 in the shop to attend to a matter, unknown to them, the defendant had another motive and stole the balance of N196,000 before vanishing into thin air.
An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court in Lagos told a 24-year-old man, Seyi Sunday, that he would get a heavy sentence for squandering N196,000 in four days.
The Magistrate, Mrs Shakirat Obasa, made this known after listening to the facts behind the arrest of the defendant.
She said that the defendant was ungrateful and leaved a reckless life.
The magistrate expressed concern that the defendant stole from someone who saved him from being lynched by a mob.
“You do not have wisdom, you spent N196,000 in four days, lodged in a hotel and did as you please with stolen money.
“It is unfortunate that the money cannot be recovered, you do not have family or friends to help you, how will the complainant recover his hard earned money?
“You are not a first time offender, so you cannot escape this time around. You will get a heavy sentence this time around,” she added.
Obasa asked the complainant if he had anything to say, but he said he would leave it to the discretion of the court.
She adjourned the case until May 31 for sentencing.
The prosecutor, Insp. Olusegun Kokoye, read the facts to the court and explained that the complainant, Idowu Tosin, a businessman, saw that a mob was attacking a man close to his shop and waded in to save him.
Kokoye said that the complainant took the defendant into his shop and urged him to lay low until the mob dispersed.
He said that the complainant only asked one of his workers to take N4,000 from the N200,000 in the shop to attend to a matter, unknown to them, the defendant had another motive and stole the balance of N196,000 before vanishing into thin air.
Kokoye told the court that at the point of arrest on April 19, N3,000 was seen with him while he declared only N10,000 in his Zenith Bank account (2749237721).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on April 28, the defendant was brought before the court facing a count charge of stealing.
The defendant had pleaded guilty to the charge during arraignment and was remanded in Kirikiri Correctional Center.