A 23-year-old man, Emmanuel Ekundayo has been sentenced to one year in prison for stealing mobile phones belonging to some students of the Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere-Ekiti (BOUESTI).
A Magistrate Court sitting in Ikere-Ekiti convicted Ekundayo, who claimed to be a student of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti.
He was arraigned before Magistrate Dotun Omoteye on one count charge of stealing. The prosecutor told the court that the culprit was apprehended on 17th of July, 2023 while ransacking the bags of students doing examinations during one of the 2022/2023 first semester examinations at the Library Lecture Theatre.
The convict pleaded guilty to the offence and was sentenced by the Magistrate on the strength of the evidence before him, and presented with an option of fine.
In other news…
It was reported earlier that a High Court sitting in Lafia, Nasarawa State convicted Fred Ayokhai, a teaching staff of the Federal University of Lafia (FULAFIA), for the assault of a female student, Blessing Mathias.
In 2022, the lecturer teamed up with his children – one was a friend to the victim – and they beat her mercilessly for assaulting his daughter over their boyfriend issues.
Ayokhai who was in the department of History and International Relations was consequently arrested by the state police alongside other suspects.
The lecturer was charged with criminal conspiracy, housebreaking, abduction and voluntarily causing grave harm without provocation and assault. Emmanuella, Bob-Praise, and Saint-Dan, all children of Ayokhai, were joined in the case as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th defendants.
The defendants pleaded not guilty, but their counsel, AU Idris approached the court with an offer for a plea bargain. While delivering judgement on Thursday, Justice Solomon Ayenajeh convicted Ayokhai and sentenced him to six months in jail for criminal conspiracy and another six months for assault.
He ruled that the charges are to run concurrently and that the six months period in which Ayokhai has been in the custody of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) will be counted.
Ruling on the offence of the children, the judge said they will spend six months on probation considering their ages. The judge said they will be punished with keeping the premises of the Nasarawa State High Court clean during their sentence. Justice Ayenajeh also ordered that the third defendant, Bob-Praise, shave his dreadlocks.
In his speech, Ayokhai thanked the judge and parties in the matter for the consideration and the leniency accorded him. He told the court that he has taken steps to recompense the victim as part of the plea bargain arrangement.
