A Chief Magistrates’ Court in Gwagwalada, FCT, on Tuesday sentenced a businessman, Eze Solomon, to five years imprisonment for forgery and cheating.
Chief Magistrate, Baba Shani, sentenced Solomon to three years for forgery and two years for cheating, without an option of fine.
Shani also ordered the convict to pay N3 million as compensation to a businesswoman, Ms Julkart Dangin.
He said that the sentence would serve as a deterrent to the convict and others from committing such crime in future.
” The convict also misled the court by lying about being ill and forging a fake hospital report to that effect which during investigations revealed was not true,” he said.
Shani said that the prosecution counsel, Emeka Ihekoronye, has proved his case beyond reasonable doubt.
Ihekoronye told the court that Solomon forged documents of two shops located in Wuse market and had been collecting rent from 2005 to 2011.
He said that the shops originally belonged to Dangin, who thought that the said shops have been revoked by the Federal Capital Territory Administration all this while.
He said Solomon deceived the occupants of the said shops with forged documents claiming to be the caretaker of the said property and has so far collected N6 million from them as rent.
The prosecution counsel said that the occupants of the shops, Mr Ikechuchwu Ebowusi and Leonard Ogoli, reported the matter to the police when their shops were sealed by the FCT Administration for not paying ground rate.
He said that when the occupants approached Solomon on why the rate was not paid, he promised to pay but never did.
The prosecution counsel said police investigations revealed that the convict was never the caretaker or given custody of the shops by the owner.
He said the offence contravened the provisions of sections 320 and 364 of the Penal Code.
