- The first and second convicts were sentenced to 18 months in prison, while the third convict (Anifat Matti 25), to 200 hours of community service
In Lagos State, A Yaba Chief Magistrate Court has convicted and sentenced three persons to jail and 200 hours of community service for stealing.
The convicts are a couple, Warris Matti, 27, and Anifat Matti, 25, and one Adeyemi Olaiya, 32
Warris, a sales representative and Olaiya, 32, a supervisor at Hans and Rene, were said to have conspired to steal a total of N5m from their employer.
The presiding magistrate, Mrs A.O. Salawu, who delivered the judgement on Tuesday after the conclusion of the trials and the presentation of facts before the court, held that their sentence should begin immediately.
Salawu, who gave no option of fine, ordered that the first and second convicts be sentenced to 18 months in prison, while she sentenced the third convict (Anifat Matti 25), to 200 hours of community service.
The convicts were first arraigned on March 26, 2024, and they pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Inspector Godwin Oriabure, told the court that the trio and some others still at large committed the offences on October 26, 2023, at No 58 Clover Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Oriabure told the court that Warris and Olaiya, who worked as a sales representative and supervisor respectively at Hans and Rene, conspired to steal a total of N5m from their employer.
He explained that Warris fraudulently got customers to pay directly into his wife’s Opay account which he linked to Hans and Rene.