Abuja – An FCT High Court on Friday convicted and sentenced three unemployed youths Bartholomew Ugwuoke, Chukwuemeka Nwonye and Ifeanyi Ogeneyi to 15 years imprisonment each for armed robbery.
In his judgment, Justice Abubakar Talba, ordered the convicts to pay N50,000 fine each as compensation to the victims.
Talba held that the defence counsel failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt as there was no substantial evidence before the court to prove the innocence of the accused persons.
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He said, “it is trite law that if robbery is committed by any person armed with any dangerous or offensive weapons to harm people, if convicted is liable to life imprisonment or less than and shall be liable to pay a fine.”
The judge said that the sentence will run concurrently from the date of arraignment which was Jan. 31, 2005.
It will be recalled that the convicts were arraigned before Justice Talba on Jan. 31, 2005 by the police on a two-count charge of criminal conspiracy and armed robbery.
They all pleaded not guilty to the charge.
During the trial, the prosecution told the court that the convicts were arrested with dangerous weapons at the Dei-Dei Junction in Abuja.
The prosecution said the convicts robbed one Igwesi John and Emmanuel Oduah of their N265, 000, including three different models of NOKIA handsets (NAN).
