Magistrate P. E. Nwaka of the Yaba Magistrates’ Court has jailed a 28- year-old Cameroonian, Thedze Dovil, for allegedly defrauding his girlfriend, Patience Bassey, of N354,000.
Dovil was sentenced to three years imprisonment for the crime.
The Lagos State Police Command first arraigned the defendant on April 27, 2023, on one count of stealing.
It was learnt that the convict, who was a security guard, took his girlfriend out on her birthday to a hotel where he drugged her and she slept off, made away with her Automated Teller Machine card with which he withdrew N354, 000.
The case was immediately reported to the police by the victim after she regained consciousness.
On arraignment, the prosecutor, Thomas Nurudeen, who held a brief for Inspector Jimoh Iseghede, stated that the offence committed contravened and was punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2015.
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The defendant pleaded guilty when the charges were read to him.
He was remanded pending legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecution.
The charge read, “That you, Thedze Dovil, on April 15, 2023, around 2.20 pm at one hotel in Lohni Phase 1, Lagos within the Eti Osa Magisterial District removed one Bassey Patience’s GTB ATM card from her back pocket without her knowledge and used it to steal N354, 000 and converted same to yourself and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2015.”
In her ruling, Magistrate F. M. Dalley sentenced the defendant to three years imprisonment but gave him an option of paying the stolen money as restitution to the complainant.
“On count one of the charges, stealing, the defendant is sentenced to three years imprisonment or pay the stolen amount of N354,000 as restitution to the complainant,” Dalley said.
She added that the defendant must pay the money within six months effective June 1, 2023.