Court jails farmer 10 months for breach of trust
Fraud
By Ugochi Ugochukwu
Abuja, April 12, 2018 (NAN) A Karmo Grade 1 Area Court in Abuja, on Thursday sentenced a 48-year-old farmer, Adamu Yakubu, to ten months imprisonment for breach of trust and cheating.
Yakubu, who resides at Masalachi by Jabi, Abuja, was sentenced on a two-count charge of criminal breach of trust and cheating, after he had pleaded guilty and begged for leniency.
The Judge, Abubakar Sadiq, however, gave the convict an option of N20, 000 as fine.
He also ordered him to pay the complainant N373, 000 as compensation and warned him to be of good behavior.
Sadiq said that the punishment would have been stiffer if the convict had not saved the court the rigor of protracted prosecution.
The Prosecutor, Mr. Dalhatu Zannah, had earlier told the court that on April 2, one Ene James of Kubwa village Abuja, reported the matter at Life Camp Police Station.
Zannah said that some time in 2016, Yakubu collected N373, 000 from the complainant and promised to sell a piece of land located at Mpape Village to her.
He said Yakubu collected the money and deliberately refused to hand over the land to the complainant and dishonestly converted the N373, 000 to his personal use.
The prosecutor added that police investigations showed that the convict did not have any land for sale and that he also made a confessional statement.
Zannah told the court that all efforts made to recover the money from Yakubu proved abortive.
The prosecutor said that the offence contravened Sections 312 and 322 of the Penal Code. (NAN)
UGO/ESAN/EMO
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Edited by Abiodun Esan/Ejike Obeta