Ekiti High Court sentences woman to four years in prison for stealing goods worth N5m

Yinka Akinwande was given a four-year prison sentence by the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti for stealing commodities worth N5,575,540.

The prosecutor has proven his case regarding Count Two based on the prosecution’s evidence, and the court finds the defendant guilty as charged. Justice Kuewumi issued a sentence of four years in prison for the defendant.

According to reports, the two charges were as follows: “Akinwande Yinka committed an offense under Sections 1(1)(c) and (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 between August 2015 and October 2019 in the Ado-Ekiti Judicial Division by fraudulently obtaining goods (Indomie, etc.) worth about N5,575,540 from one Bolanle Akarakiri.
Akinwande Yinka also committed an offense punishable under Section 390 of the Criminal Code Act, 2004, when he stole commodities worth approximately N5,575,540 from a man named Bolanle Akarakiri during the same time period and location in the aforementioned judicial division.

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The trial judge expressed disapproval of a situation in which a staff member or employee would deliberately try to defraud her company and claimed that he took that into consideration when determining the appropriate sentence.

He claimed that Exhibit “J”(1), the confessional statement read in court by Prosecution Witness 2, and other materials showed that the defendant had misappropriated the aforementioned funds.

The defendant was accused of conducting fraud under false pretense in Count One of the two accusations, but the judge discharged and acquitted him.
He claimed that the court’s evidence showed that, given the complainant and defendant’s employer/employee relationship, he was unable to locate any proof of a false pretense that may have convinced the complainant to surrender her property.

When the defendant was initially arraigned, the police prosecutor, Mr. Samson Osobu, presented evidence through two witnesses, the complainant and the investigating police officer, John Olotu.

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During the Wednesday ruling, the defense attorney, Mrs. RA. Mohammed, asked with the court to balance justice with mercy because her client is a nursing mother who right now requires all the “required” attention for her 4-year-old child.