A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has convicted and sentenced for Peter Ayigi Againpriye, an undergraduate of the University of Calabar (UI), to three years imprisonment over Internet fraud.
The convict was charged for impersonation, obtaining money by false pretence and possession of fraudulent documents contrary to Section 1 (1) (a) and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act.
Trial judge, E. A. Obile convicted Againpriye, after he pleaded “guilty” to a three-count charge brought against him by the Port Harcourt Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In view of his plea, the prosecuting counsel, E. K. Ebipade, called a witness and tendered some documents to prove the case.
Items tendered included: one iPhone 12 Pro Max, one iPhone XR, the defendant’s statement, consent to search devices form, certificate of compliance and scam documents printed from the defendant’s Instagram account. All tendered documents were accepted by the court and marked as exhibits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively.
An operative of the anti-graft commission, Albert Kukah, while being led in evidence, told the court that the defendant was arrested sometime in June, 2023, in an operation tagged, Eagle Sweep, at Golf Estate, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for alleged internet fraud activities.
He said investigation revealed that the defendant was involved in internet fraud, as he opened several Gmail, Instagram and Facebook accounts, and falsely presented himself as Diana Wilson in chats with Keess Van Darr, whom he defrauded €3,000.
Relying on the documents tendered and the testimony of Prosecution Witness (PW) 1, the prosecution prayed the court to convict and sentence the defendant as charge.
Counsel to the defendant, B. J. Jeoffrey, did not oppose the prayers by the prosecution, but urged the court to temper justice with mercy.
In his ruling, Justice Obile convicted and sentenced the defendant to one year in prison with N50, 000.00, as option of fine on each of the counts.
The judge also ordered that the iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone XR recovered from the convict be forfeited to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
