A dismissed
staff of First Bank in Lagos has been sentenced to 4 years imprisonment after
he was found guilty of stealing N9.3million belonging to a customer.
An Igbosere
Magistrates Court, Lagos, sentenced David Anibolu, to 4 years’ imprisonment for
stealing N9,308,000 from a customer’s First Bank account.
David, who was
a cashier, was found guilty by Chief Magistrate A. O. Awogboro on a count of
conspiracy but convicted him of stealing. Before sentencing, the convict’s
counsel Philips Onyama made an allocutus for his client and pleaded for a
sentence of a fine, or a lenient jail term.
“He’s a first
time offender; he has no father, only a sick mother who relies on him to
survive. He has been in custody since March 24, 2014 and has suffered emotional
and physical torture. He is also now more sober and refined,” lawyer Onyama
pleaded.
Pronouncing
judgment, the Chief Magistrate sentenced David to four years in prison,
starting from the date of his detention, adding that: “No one must be allowed
to profit from his crime.”
26yrs old
David was arraigned on April 3, 2014 by the Lion Building Police Division,
Lagos, on a two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing.
He denied the
charge and was admitted to N500,000 bail.
During the
protracted trial lasting two years and nine months, prosecuting Police
Superintendent Chidi Okoye said the defendant, of No.15, Baale Street, Agbroko
Iba in Ojo area of Lagos committed the offences on March 22, 2014, around 2pm
at FBN Alaba 2 branch in Ojo.
SP Okoye
stated that the defendant, who was on annual vacation, came to the bank
premises under the pretext that he wanted to help a customer to post his land
use charges.
“He
fraudulently changed a customer’s identity and mandate card which enabled him
to debit the said account of the sum of N9 million and transferred it into
various accounts.”
According to
SP Okoye, the theft and others committed by the accused were later discovered
to be N9.308m.
A forensic
auditor attached to the bank, Solomon Akhanolu, linked the fraud to him through
the password he used to change the customer’s identity and mandate card, the
prosecutor said.
According to
David's confessional statement which was tendered by the prosecution and
admitted by the court, his accomplices, who are still at large, promised him
N4million as his share of the fraud, but they disappeared with the money and
gave him nothing.
“I have been
working with the bank as a teller since 2011 but on the day of the incident, I
used the passwords of my colleagues with the help of “F” Key logger given to me
by my friend called Afeez who is now at large. The logger helps link a
customer’s identification with another that has online banking, which enables cash
to be transferred successfully from one account to another. My regret now is
that I was supposed to get N4 million as my share but the receivers of the
money have since disappeared. I regret my action,” he said, according told the
police.
David later disowned
the statement in court, saying he was forced to make it at the station while he
was detained, handcuffed, flogged and his legs chained, the court ruled during
a trial within trial that there was no evidence of coercion and the
prosecution’s testimony was credible.
“There was
also no trace of any bruise on the defendant,” Chief Magistrate Awogboro said
and observed that since he was on leave, David did not need to go to the bank
for the transaction.
"He could
have made a phone call to his colleagues at the bank. If he did not have an
ulterior motive, why should he be at the office on a Saturday?”
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