An Ikeja High Court has set free a 47-year-old Chinese woman, Zhen Zhen, four years after setting ablaze a section of a hotel located in Ikeja, Lagos.
Zhen was set free following a plea bargain agreement she entered into with the prosecution team of Lagos State Government on April 24.
Justice Hakeem Oshodi ruled on Friday that Zhen had served more than the two-year sentence recommended in the plea bargain agreement.
“The defendant has shown remorse and has been in prison custody for more than two years.
“The court is satisfied that the defendant understands the charge she pleaded guilty to and therefore accepts her plea of guilt.
“The defendant, Zhen Zhen, having spent two years in prison custody, the court hereby orders that she be released forthwith from prison custody today,” the judge said.
Zhen was in January 2018 arraigned on one count of arson. She denied the charge.
The prosecution said she committed the offence on July 5, 2015 at Ernest Place, a hotel located at 28, Bamishile Street, Allen Avenue, Lagos.
After the prosecution amended the charge on March 6, 2018, Zhen again pleaded not guilty.
However, under the terms of the plea bargain agreement, Zhen pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of willful damage to the property and agreed to serve a two-year prison sentence inclusive of the date of her arrest and detention.
