A Magistrates’ Court in Ikeja, Lagos on Thursday sentenced a 30-year-old unemployed man Kolawole Olawuyi to three months in Kirikiri Correctional Centre for extorting money from motorists.
The presiding Magistrate A.S. Odusanya pronounced the verdict after the defendant pleaded guilty to the two-count charge of breach of peace and demanding money with menace.
Odusanya sentenced the defendant to three months imprisonment on each of the counts but ordered that the sentence should run concurrently.
“You are hereby sentenced to three months imprisonment with hard labour.
“This will serve as a deterrent to others who might want to engage in similar acts,” Odusanya said.
She urged the convict to change his ways of life after completion of his jail term.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the defendant pleaded guilty to the offences during arraignment on February 9 and was remanded.
When the case was called up on Thursday for the review of facts and sentence, the defendant still admitted guilt, a development that prompted the magistrate to sentence him.
Earlier, the prosecutor Inspector Emmanuel Ajayi had told the court that the defendant committed the offences on January 9 at Ojota, Lagos.
He said that the defendant conducted himself in a manner likely to cause a breach of peace by demanding money with threat from motorists.
“The defendant blocked the road, demanding money from motorists.
“He threatened to damage their vehicles or harm anyone who refused to comply.
“Police later stormed the scene and arrested him.”
The offences, Ajayi said violated sections 168 and 301 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
