A 21-year-old student, Abraham Umuibe, has been ordered to sweep Mpape Government Secondary School in Abuja for 90 days for defrauding a Chinese woman of N113,000.
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had charged Umuibe with cheating and falsely representing himself as a Chinese citizen and military officer named Maisbay Chang via Chinese social media app, WeChat.
Umuibe was arraigned before the federal capital territory (FCT) high court on Tuesday.
Earlier, the defence counsel, Ruth Mamza, said the defendant was resourceful and he prayed the court to temper justice with mercy because the defendant was a first time offender with no criminal record.
Mamza stated; “The defendant has repented and refunded everything he collected from the crime”.
The prosecuting counsel, Ijeabalum Diribe told the court that Umuibe and his defence counsel had signed a plea bargain on June 16.
Diribe urged the court to sentence and convict Umuibe in line with the terms of the plea bargain, which states that upon conviction, the defendant should pay N113,000 fine or spend one month in prison.
The prosecuting counsel said Umuibe fraudulently induced a Chinese lady on WeChat app and collected N113,000 from her.
She said the offence contravened the provisions of Section 95 of the Penal Code.
Judge Kezziah Ogbonnaya, while delivering his judgement, said the court had been enjoined to give non-custodial sentencing geared toward decongestion of the prisons depending.
She ordered the prison officers to provide a register for Umuibe to sign in daily throughout the 90 days, after which he would be free.
Ogbonnaya warned him to desist from committing crimes and be of good behaviour.
