Two notorious robbers were each sentenced to 42 years imprisonment on Monday by a Lagos High Court, sitting in Ikeja, for a robbery operation they carried out in Ikorodu on December 7, 2009.
The two convicts, Kazeem Jayesinmi and Babajide Popoola were identified by of their victims, Mr Aaron Okunlade, after they were arrested during another operation and presented for inspection parade at Igbogbo police station on December 29, 2009.
33 year-old Jayesinmi and 27-year-old Popoola were each sentenced to 21 years for each of the offences of conspiracy to rob and robbery. The trial judge, Justice Lateefat Okunnu, said the sentence should run concurrently.
The convicts were charged with armed robbery, which would have earned them a death penalty if the trial judge had not commuted the offence to robbery.
Okunnu said the prosecution was unable to convict the accused for armed robbery since none of the guns which the duo allegedly used for the operation was tendered in court.
“I have some doubts whether the weapons used for the operation on December 7, 2009 came under the definition of an offensive weapon under Section 403(b) of the Criminal Code, Chapter C17, Laws of Lagos State 2003,” Okunnu said.
He said the court was unable to ascertain whether the weapon was a “toy or fake gun”, one which might be used to cause injury or intimidate the victims during the robbery operation.
The convicts were said to have robbed Mr. Aaron Okunlade of a car and the sum of N21,000 at his house in Ikorodu about 11.05pm on December 7, 2009.
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