Trader sentenced 21 years for armed robbery
NAN-H-52
Imprisonment
By Moji Eniola
Ikeja, Jan. 18, 2017 (NAN) An Ikeja High Court on Wednesday sentenced a 29-year-old trader, Nwajamba Nwauta, to 21 years imprisonment for conspiracy and robbery.
Justice Sedotan Ogunsanya passed the sentence after finding Nwauta of no fixed abode, guilty of a two-count charge of conspiracy and armed robbery.
“I find the defendant guilty of the two-count charge, he is hereby sentenced to 21 years in prison,” Ogunsanya said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nwauta escaped death sentence because the prosecution could not prove that the gun presented to the court as evidence was the one used in the armed robbery.
“I will not be relying on the evidence of ASP. Rasheed Kilani, because the revolver presented as evidence was not recovered by him but by a mob,” she said.
The prosecutor, Mr Adebayo Haroun, had told the court that Nwauta committed the offences alongside an accomplice on Sept. 13, 2011 at No. 24, Isolo Road, Egbe, Lagos.
The prosecutor said that the duo while armed with a locally made revolver, went to a jewellery shop, robbed one Evan Obi, a salesman of a bag containing N25,000, a mobile phone and an unspecified amount of jewellery.
“Luck ran out on Nwauta and his accomplice when after the robbery, the salesman raised an alarm and gave them a chase.
“The commotion attracted a mob which caught Nwauta, beat him up and handed him over to the authorities.
“His accomplice escaped with the stolen property and jewellery,” he said.
Haroun said that the offences contravened Sections 295(2) and 297 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. (NAN)
MAE/MNA/OU
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Edited by Maureen Atuonwu/Obike Ukoh
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