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PORT HARCOURT – A final-year student of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Henry Nathaniel Ekanem has been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for internet fraud.
Justice A. T. Mohammed of the Federal High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, convicted and sentenced him to two years imprisonment on each of the seven counts with an option of a fine to the tune of N200,000.00, payable into the Consolidated Revenue Account of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The judge also ordered that all the phones recovered from the convict be forfeited to the government, being proceeds of crime.
The convict according to a statement signed by its Head Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) sometime in September 2024 at Choba, Port Harcourt.
Oyewale who noted that the convict pleaded guilty when the charge was read to him, added he was arraigned by the Port Harcourt Zonal Directorate of the EFCC on seven count charges bordering on obtaining money under pretense and impersonation, an offense contrary to Section 1(1) (a) and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud-Related Offences Act 2006 among others.
He added that the convict reportedly defrauded one Diana Roskov of 22 US Dollars ($22), among others, while fraudulently presenting himself as Coran Capshaw, manager of the singer Chris Stapleton, through WhatsApp and Instagram chats.
Given his plea, the prosecution counsel, A. Abubakar, called witnesses and tendered some documents as evidence, which were admitted by the court and marked as exhibits. He thereafter prayed the court to convict and sentence the defendant accordingly.
Counsel for the defendant, F. T. Fred-Boufini did not oppose the prayers by the prosecution. She rather prayed the court to temper justice with mercy, stressing that the defendant was a first-time offender with no previous criminal records.
