A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja on Tuesday sentenced a man, Felix Ayeye, to 14 years imprisonment for stabbing and robbing a bartender, Jones Adewoye, of his phone and other items worth N78,000.
Justice Modupe Nico-Clay handed down the verdict to the convict after he opted for a plea bargain, though the trial had commenced in November 2022 before Ayeye opted for a plea bargain.
The convict, who had earlier pleaded not guilty to two counts bordering on conspiracy to commit robbery and armed robbery preferred against him by the Lagos State Government on Tuesday, changed his plea to guilty.
Following Ayeye’s guilty plea, Justice Nico-Clay, convicted and sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment.
During trial, Adewoye narrated to a Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, how he was stabbed on his back with a dagger and robbed of his phone and other items worth N78,000.
The first prosecution witness had narrated to the court how the convict Felix Ayeye and others now at large stabbed and robbed him of his valuables.
When the convict was arraigned, the state prosecuting counsel, Mrs Titilayo Olanrewaju-Daudu, had told the court that Ayeye and others now at large conspired to commit the offences.
Olanrewaju-Daudu said that the incident took place on February 23, 2019, at about 4:30am at Ilaje Bus-stop, in the Ajah area of Lagos.
She said that Ayeye, while armed with a dagger and a broken bottle, robbed one Jones Adewoye of a gold chain worth N20,000, a red slipper worth about N8,000, and a Samsung S3A phone, worth about N50,000.
According to the prosecutor, the offences committed contravened Sections 299 and 297 (2) (b) of the criminal law of Lagos State 2015.
Adewoye, who was led in evidence-in-chief by Olanrewaju-Daudu, had told the court that he was a professional bartender and was on his way home from work when the incident happened.
Adewoye further told the court that the police then said they had to go to the police station to make a proper statement of what had happened.
“I wrote a statement and on that day, the police detained the defendant and his gang. The police then gave me a report for treatment, and in the process, I lost my job, his family came to beg me and asked me how much was the things he stole from me, and I said N200,000.
“The family brought N60,000 and I refused and told them that the matter was already with the police and there was nothing I could do.
“Then in 2020, the defendant started sending messages to my wife from prison threatening that he would deal with my wife after leaving prison custody,” he said.
Madukwe B. Nwabuisi is an accomplished journalist renown for his fearless reporting style and extensive expertise in the field. He is an investigative journalist, who has established himself as a kamikaze reporter.
