Kemisola Oye
A Lagos Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja earlier today sentenced an 18-year-old Secondary School Certificate (SSCE) holder, Henry Bilabi to two years imprisonment for impersonating on TikTok to defraud unsuspecting citizens of 500 US dollars.
Justice Ismail Ijelu sentenced Bilabi to two years imprisonment following his plea bargain agreement to the charge of impersonation preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“The court is satisfied that the defendant understands the plea bargain agreement and accordingly the defendant is hereby found guilty.
“You just finished secondary school and the only thing you know how to do is to commit a crime,” the court observed.
Justice Ijelu however gave the convict an option of a fine of One Million Naira fine which must be paid within 30 days.
The court also ordered that the convict carry out six hours of community service for three months under the supervision of the officials of the Lagos custodial centre.
The judge also ordered that the convict must write an undertaking never to go back to the crime and his iPhone7 be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Earlier, EFCC counsel, Mr Ahmed Yerima, in his review of the facts of the case, 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 using 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 US dollars.
“He raised a manager ‘s cheque of N50,000 in favour of EFCC during the investigation,” he said.
The convict’s extra-judicial statement, iPhone7, and a cheque of N50,000 were admitted in 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.
According to the prosecution, the offence contravenes Section 380 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
Eighteen-Eleven Media