Tunde Bakare
Justice O.O. Abike-Fadipe of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Tuesday, October 8, 2024, convicted and sentenced one Nonso Joseph Ekeocha to one year imprisonment for possession of fraudulent documents.
Ekeocha was prosecuted by the Lagos Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a one-count charge bordering on possession of fraudulent documents used to perpetrate romance scam.
The count reads: “Nonso Joseph Ekeocha, on or about the 27th June, 2024 in Lagos, within the judicial division of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, had in your possession, ‘Instagram Profile Account’, wherein you represented yourself as Ronald Gregory, and other related documents for an online dating scam, which you knew or ought to know to be false,”
He pleaded “guilty” to the charge.
Following his guilty plea, the prosecution counsel, I. G. Akhanolu, prayed the court to call his witness, Ismail Saifullahi, an operative of the Commission, to give a review of the facts.
Saifullahi said the defendant was arrested alongside others who engaged in computer-related fraud in Lagos on June 29, 2024.
“Upon his arrest, he was brought to the EFCC office. Items recovered from him at the point of arrest were iPhone 12 pro max and Samsung S-10 phones, which were analysed through a forensic examination.
“ The analysis revealed fraudulent documents about the defendant’s involvement in an online dating scam, where he represented himself as a male American bearing Ronald Gregory.
“He informed the Commission that he usually carried out the fraudulent activities by sending love messages randomly online to members of the public and that those who showed interest in having a relationship were asked for financial assistance.”
Akhanolu further applied to tender, in evidence, the defendant’s extrajudicial statement as well as the bundle of fraudulent documents printed out from his mobile phones.
Justice Fadipe admitted them as exhibits and convicted him as charged.
When he was given the opportunity to address the court, Nonso pleaded with the court to “temper justice with mercy”, promising never to engage in internet fraud again.
Consequently, Justice Fadipe sentenced him to one-year imprisonment, with an option of N500,000.00 and 50 hours community service.
The judge also ordered that both the Iphone 12 pro max and Samsung S-10 recovered from him be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.