Justice Ismail Ijelu of an Ikeja Special Offences Court on Wednesday sentenced an 18-year-old Secondary School Certificate (SSCE) holder, Henry Bilabi to a two-year imprisonment for impersonating on Tiktok to defraud unsuspecting citizens of $500.
The convict was however given an option of N1 million fine which must be paid within 30 days.
Justice Ijelu sentenced Bilabi following his plea bargain agreement to the charge of impersonation proffered against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The judge ordered the convict to carry out six-hour community service for three months, under the supervision of the officials of the Lagos Custodial Centre and write an undertaken never to go back to crime while his iPhone7 was forfeited to the Federal Government.
The judge held: “The court is satisfied that the defendant understands the plea bargain agreement and accordingly, the defendant is hereby found guilty”.
Justice Ijelu chastised the convict who just finished secondary school that the only thing he could do well was to commit crimes.
EFCC Counsel, Ahmed Yerima, in his review of facts, had told the court that the commission received an intelligence report sometime in October 2023 that some young persons were defrauding innocent citizens around Ajah.
Yerima said that the convict was arrested and when his phone was analysed under forensic tools, some fraudulent documents were printed out from his TikTok account.
“He confessed to having created a fake Tiktok account where he represented himself as Grace David with username grace_david2 where he benefited $50. He raised the manager’s cheque of N50,000 in favour of EFCC during the investigation”, he said.
The convict’s extra-judicial statement, iPhone7, and cheque of N50,000 were admitted into evidence, following no objections from the defence counsel, Ms Mary Uzodimma.
The convict, in his plea for mercy, prayed the court to temper justice with mercy.
