Ondo farmer bags 21-year jail term for robbery

An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure has sentenced a middle-aged farmer, Gbenga Akintola, to 21 years imprisonment for robbery.

According to the report, the convict, who hails from Ondo East Local Council Area of the State, was arraigned before the court on a five-count charge of conspiracy to commit a felony, including armed robbery.

According to the charge sheet, Akintola and another person still at large committed the crime between August and October 2021, around Oke-Olifi via Itanla Junction, Ondo town.

He was said to have robbed his victim, Chidinma, of her Itel phone valued at N20,000 and the sum of N150 in her bag, and one Rufus Rhoda of her Tecno phone valued at N6,500 and another Techo K-7 phone valued at N35,000 and the sum of N4,500.

Akintola also robbed another victim, Ayodeji Oluwayemisi, of her bag, an iPhone valued at N45,000 and N2,800 while armed with a cutlass and other offensive weapons.

The police prosecutor, Inspector Alako Abdulahi, informed the court that operatives of Amotekun Corps brought the defendant to the police station on October 19, 2021, after he was arrested with four mobile phones, a motorcycle, a bag, and a small purse, which had all been recovered from him.

The prosecutor added that the defendant stated that the items found on him were handed to him by a man called Sunday Igbo.

However, while testifying before the court, one of the victims, Rufus Rhoda stated that she and Chidinma were on their way to church when the defendant came out of the bush, masked with a cap and armed with a cutlass.

Justice W. R. Olamide subsequently sentenced the defendant to seven years imprisonment for conspiracy and 21 years imprisonment for robbery, which will run concurrently.