Man sentenced to a year in prison for swindling lady of N870,000
The Chief Magistrate, Mr Vincent Kor also ordered the convict to pay the sum of N870,000 to Iger, being the sum he collected from her.
Aondohemen, who lives at Block B, Ikoyi Estate, Lagos State, was charged before a Makurdi Chief Magistrates’ Court with criminal conspiracy and cheating.
The Prosecutor, Sgt Godwin Ato told the court that the complainant, who resides in Makurdi, reported the matter to the Commissioner of Police in Benue on June 15, 2021.
Ato told the court that the convict was tracked by the police, arrested him in Lagos and brought him to Makurdi to face trial
Ato said that Aondohemen committed the offence sometime in March, 2021.
He said the convict conspired with one Aloysius Akaatse, Mary Haruna, Kelvin, whose surname is not known, and Baba Ife, now at large
He told the court that Aondohemen posted on his Facebook page that he was a car dealer and had cars for sale.
The prosecutor said the complainant contacted Aondohemen to register her interest in buying a Toyota Corolla LE Saloon car.
Ato said the convict told her that the price of the car was N2.5 million.
He said the convict and others lured the complainant to pay the sum of N800,000 into Akaatse’s account as advance payment while the balance would be paid after the car had been delivered.
Ato said the convict also lured Iger to pay him the sum of N70,000 into Haruna’s account for fueling the car from Lagos to Makurdi.
Ato said the complainant reported the matter to the police in Makurdi when the convict could not deliver the car after three months.
The prosecutor said Aondohemen was arrested during police investigation and he confessed committing the crime along with others now at large.
He said the offences contravened Sections 97 and 324 of the Penal Code, Laws of Benue, 2004.
He urged the court to compel the convict to pay the sum of N1.1 million to the complainant as compensation because the complainant spent money in the arrest and transportation of the convict to Benue from Lagos.
The convict told the court he agreed to bring the car to Iger subject to payment of half the agreed amount but she called him a scammer hence he dumped the business.
He said he asked the complainant to send her account number for a refund but she refused.
He pleaded with the court to tamper justice with mercy, saying that he had no criminal intent when he collected the money from the complainant.
