A Karmo Grade 1 Area Court in Abuja on Thursday sentenced a 36-year old technician, Tohomou Yangoua, to five months imprisonment for cheating.
Yangoua, of Daki Biyu village in Jabi, Abuja, was sentenced on a one-count charge of cheating.
The Area Court judge, Abubakar Sadiq, however, gave him an option of N20,000 fine and also ordered him to pay the N250, 000 as compensation to the complainant.
The convict had earlier pleaded guilty and begged the court for leniency.
Sadiq said that the punishment would have been stiffer if the convict had not saved the court the rigour of protracted prosecution.
He also warned the convict to be of good behaviour.
The rosecutor Mrs. Florence Auhioboh, had told the court that on Dec. 24, 2017, Godiya Moses of Daki Biyu Jabi, Abuja, reported the matter at Life Camp Police Station.
Auhioboh said that in November 2017, the complainant gave the convict N250,000 to obtain visa to United Arab Emirate for her.
She told the court that after the convict collected the money, he absconded and dishonestly converted the amount to his personal use.
The prosecutor added that during police investigation, the convict made a confessional statement and all efforts made to recover the money proved abortive.
Auhioboh said the offence contravened the Penal Code. (NAN)
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