A 19-year-old Nigerian boy, Marvelous Awolowo, has been sentenced to 12 months in jail for cybercrime offences.
He was sentenced by Justice Adebayo Yusuf of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin on Friday.
Awolowo, popularly otherwise known as Bryan Evan and Sandra Katy, who hails from Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State, was arrested based on credible intelligence on October 23, 2022, at the International Airport, Ilorin, Kwara State.
Upon arrest, one Infinix S5 lite phone was recovered from him. The phone was analyzed and several fraudulent documents were printed from his emails.
Checks on his profile revealed that the teenager had impersonated one Evans Bryan and Sandra Katy using fictitious emails to swindle unsuspecting victims.
Specifically, the convict defrauded Evan Bryan of the sum of $1000 after he deceived him to believe he had instructed one Blacck to send him $14,500.
Further findings revealed that the convict also acted as a “picker” for his fellow internet fraudsters who he helped to receive illegally obtained funds through his bank account.
It was also discovered that, between May 4, 2022, and October 23, 2022, a total sum of N13,713,400 suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities was paid to his UBA account.
Consequently, Marvelous Awolowo was arraigned on two counts to which he pleaded guilty.
The charge sheet states: “That you, MARVELOUS AWOLOWO sometime between May 2022 and October 2022 in Ilorin, Kwara State within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did knowingly had under your control, N13,713,400 paid into your United Bank for Africa account No 2176465739 which is reasonably suspected to be unlawfully obtained and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 319(A) of the Penal Code Law and punishable under the same Section.”
Following the guilty plea, counsel to the EFCC, Rashidat Alao, reviewed the facts of the case through a witness, Kamal Yahayah, who narrated the circumstances leading to the arrest of the defendant.
Kamal, who is an operative of the anti-graft agency, tendered documents, which were admitted in evidence by the court.
Rashidat, thereafter, urged the court to convict the defendant based on his admittance of guilt and the evidence of the prosecution witness that was unchallenged by the defence.
Justice Yusuf, after considering the guilty plea by the defendant and the uncontroverted evidence before the court, consequently, pronounced the defendant guilty on the two counts charges and sentenced him to six months imprisonment on each of the two counts, to run concurrently with N100,000 fine option on each count.
