A 33-year-old saleswoman, Nkiru Ocha, is to spend the next 10 years in jail, a verdict by Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court ruled in Lagos on Monday.
The Chief Magistrate, Mrs A. Ipaye-Nwachukwu, who handed down the verdict, however, gave the convict an option to pay N2. 57 million to the complainant and spend five years in prison.
The court said the woman was found guilty of the two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing brought against her.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the accused on her first arraignment on June 28, 2013 had pleaded not guilty to the charges and was granted bail in the sum of N100,000.
The accused had told the court that some people who had posed as customers on Oct. 27, 2012, at 9.00 a.m. at Block 5, Shop 55, Zone D, Trade Fair Complex in Ojo, used some magical means to take the money away.
Police Prosecutor Chinalu Uwadione told the court that the Ocha claimed that two persons had approached her and pretended to be customers but before she knew what was happening, they used a white handkerchief to swipe her face making her to lose consciousness.
She said the accused, who was a saleswoman of Mr Augustine Onwuja, Chairman of Danberton Nigeria Ltd, claimed she was robbed of N2.5 million in the process being sales of the previous day.
According to her, she later regained her consciousness at Mazamaza, some few kilometers from the complex.
The offences contravened Section 287 (7) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised).
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