Court Send Cleric To 14 years in Prison

An Ikeja High Court today sentenced an Islamic cleric,  Alfa Taofeek Olawale to 14 years in prison for attempted robbery.

Olawale was arraigned in 2012 before Justice Raliat Adebiyi on a two count charge offence of robbery and attempted armed robbery. The convict has been in prison custody since then had pleaded not guilty to the charge.

 Olawale had told the court in his defence, that he has been an Arabic teacher at Lakuwe in Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos since 1997.He said he also engage in the treatment of people suffering from spiritual attack.

The convict who claimed to be innocent of the charge said he had gone to  Lakuwe Junction on May 6, 2012 to offer sacrifices on behalf of one his clients when the incident that led to his arrested happened.

"I live with my girlfriend at Lakuwe. On the day of the incident around 12.am, I had gone to the T-junction  at Lakuwe dressed in a white Jalabiya to offer sacrifices on behalf of my client who was suffering from leg pains and also spiritual problems”. He said he had told his client to bring a goat which parts are to be used for sacrifice.

"It was while I was chanting spiritual incantations that someone suddenly appeared with a cutlass and struck me on the head.
" I lost consciousness only to wake up and find myself in the Lagos State Teaching Hospital," he said.

His account was however different from that of the complainant, Mr Jephthah Ekwueme who was the only prosecution witness .

Ekwueme had told the court that on the day of the incident, he was lying on his bed when some persons shone a torch light through his window. He said the person told me he was an armed robber and commanded him to open the door.

"I heard more than one voice commanding me to open the door to my apartment and telling me that they were armed robbers.

" I grabbed a cutlass and swung it through the window and it hit one of them. They thereafter took their heels.

"I quickly opened the door and shouted for assistance from my neighbors. I pursued one of them who happened to be the defendant, I had injured him with the cutlass. I noticed that he was wearing a long white garment.

"He jumped over the fence into the next compound and I followed him there. I managed to subdue him until the police arrived," he testified.

In her judgment, Justice Raliat Adebiyi found the defendant guilty as charged.

She upheld the testimony of the complaint who was the only witness in the matter to the effect that the defendant was wearing a white garment when he was caught on the night of the incident.

Justice Adebiyi also held that the testimony of the complainant was also corroborated by the defendant who admitted that he was wearing a white jalabiya on the night of the incident and arrest.

She noted that the convict was also caught at the scene of the crime and identified by the witness who is also the victim.

In his allocutus, counsel to the convict, Mr Worer Oduagbaka pleaded with the trial judge to temper justice with mercy.
Oduagbaka said that the convict, who is still in his youth, was a first time offender and that if given a second chance, he could still be useful to the society.

While Sentencing the convict, Justice Adebiyi said that the prosecution was only able to prove the case of attempted robbery against the defendant. She therefore sentenced the convict to 14 years in prison on both count.