A High Court sitting in Akure, Ondo State capital, has sentenced a middle-aged farmer, from Bolorunduro in Ondo East Local Government Area of the state, Gbenga Akintola, to 21 years imprisonment over armed robbery.
Akintola, who pleaded guilty to the five-count charge against him which include; conspiracy to commit felony to wit armed robbery and armed robbery.
The Court was informed that Akintola and one other at large, committed the offence in August 2021 in Itanla area of Ondo town, by robbing one Onuh Chidinma of her itel phone valued at N20,000 and the sum of N150,000 in her bag.
The accuse also dispossessed one Rhoda Rufus and Ayodeji Yemisi, of their small tecno phone, valued at N6,500, tecno K-7 phone valued at N35,000 and the sum of N4,500; a bag, an itel phone valued at N4,500 and the sum of N2,800.
They were said to have committed the offence while armed with a cutlass and other offensive weapons.
Police prosecutor, Inspector Alako Abdulahi, who testified against the accused said that men of Amotekun Corps brought the defendant to the police station on October 19, 2021, with four mobile phones, a motorcycle, a bag and a small purse recovered from him.
He said that the defendant admitted those items were found on him but that a man called Sunday Igbo handed them over to him.
One of the victims, Rufus Rhoda, also testified that she and Chidinma were going to Mount Olive prayer centre when the defendant came out of the bush, masked with a cap and armed with a cutlass.
She said that the defendant asked them to drop their bags and all the contents, after which the defendant carried the bags and ran into the bush. She said that her bag contained techno 7, another small techno and the sum of N4,500.00.
The defendant told the court that he bought a motorcycle from Sunday Igbo but he did not know that it was stolen.
He also said that the stolen items were recovered from the house of Sunday who was at large, adding that the Police had threatened to charge him for robbery if he did not pay N200,000 to bail himself.
In his judgement, Justice W. R. Olamide discharged the defendant on counts 2, 4, and 5 saying there was no evidence to link the cutlass found in the defendant’s house with the robbery allegation.
The court, therefore, sentenced the defendant to seven years imprisonment for conspiracy and 21 years imprisonment for robbery, which are to run concurrently.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then