An Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti has sentenced two men, 26-year-old Adewale Adesanmi and 24-year-old Olumide Arogundade to 21 years’ imprisonment each for snatching the bag, wristwatch, phone and money of a traveller.
The court also sentenced them to seven years’ imprisonment each for conspiracy.
The convicts were charged to court and tried on counts of robbery and conspiracy.
In the court judgement, Justice Oluwatoyin Abodunde, said, “The prosecution has discharged the evidential burden placed on the defendants in law with respect to the offences of conspiracy and robbery.
“On count one (conspiracy), they are each sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, and on count two (robbery) 21 years’ imprisonment each. The sentences are to run concurrently.”
Justice Abodunde, however, ordered that the four years already spent in custody be deducted from the sentences of the convicts.
The charges read in part, “Adesanmi and Arogundade on January 4, 2016, on Ajebamidele Junction, Ikere Road, Ado Ekiti, did conspire to rob one Damilola Oladosu of her belongings, contrary to sections 516 and 402 (2)(a) of the Criminal Code, Cap. C16, Laws of Ekiti State of Nigeria, 2012.”
In her statement, the victim, Oladosu, said, “I was travelling to Ikere Ekiti around 11pm when the defendants, who were on a motorcycle, snatched my bag containing clothes, books, certificates and also collected my wristwatch, Infinix phone, wallet and a sum of N4,000.
“They ran away, but I was able to get the motorcycle’s number plate. I thereafter reported the matter at the Ologede Police Station on Ikere Ekiti Road in Ado Ekiti.”
The prosecutor, Ronke Odetola, called three witnesses and tendered the statements of the defendants and the victim as exhibits.
The defendants spoke in their own defence and called no witness.
