Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel of a Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State, on Tuesday, sentenced five men tried for cyber-stalking and defrauding former Speaker of Osun State House of Assembly, Timothy Owoeye, of a sum of N38 million.
In 2018, a 13-second nude video of the then-member representing Ilesa East State Constituency in Osun House of Assembly, Owoeye, went viral on the internet.
In the video, Owoeye was accosted by some people, who accused him of coming to their community to perform a ritual.
Upon probe into the matter, Osun Police Command arrested those in the video, who were alleged to have used the clip to obtain around N38 million from Owoeye, before the clip was reportedly released on the internet.
The convicts; Kazeem Agbabiaka, Rasheed Ojonla, Babatunde Oluajo, Adebiyi Kehinde, Femi Oseni, and Oyebanji Oyeniyi were arraigned before the court on October 19, 2018, on five counts bordering on conspiracy, advance-free fraud and cyber-stalking.
In the course of the trial, the prosecution from the Ministry of Justice led by Mr. Moses Faremi, called six witnesses and presented 57 exhibits including bank statements of the defendants.
Delivering judgment on the case, Justice Ayo-Emmanuel, said the convicts operate like a web of syndicates, subjecting their victims to hardship and deserved no leniency.
He subsequently passed a guilty verdict on them and sentenced Agbabiaka, Oyeniyi, Ojonla and Oluajo to five years imprisonment for conspiracy and advance-free fraud.
The judge, however, discharged and acquitted Ismaila Azeez, on the count bothering on cyberstalking, but found Oseni guilty of the same charge and sentenced him to five years imprisonment.
