Court remands man, 40, for allegedly duping prospective tenants of N610,000
An Enugu South Magistrates’ Court, on Wednesday, remanded one Israel Obidozie for allegedly obtaining N610,000 rent from three different persons in Enugu.
The Magistrate, C.O. Ejeagbasi, ordered that the defendant be remanded in Enugu Correctional Centre.
The magistrate also ordered the Prosecution Counsel, Mrs Rosemary Ojobo, to contact the defendant’s family on how to pay the complainants their money.
“The main interest of the court is not just sending the defendant to prison, but how to recover the monies from him.
“Therefore, make sure his family and relatives are here on the next adjourned date,” Ejeagbasi told the prosecution counsel.
The magistrate, thereafter, adjourned the matter till Jan. 28, 2022, for facts and sentencing.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that when the charges were read, the defendant, who had no counsel representing him, pleaded guilty to the one count charge, bordering on obtaining money by false pretence.
Earlier, Ojobo told the court that the defendant had, on July and August, at Gariki Awkunanaw in Enugu South Local Government Area, collected the sum of N170,000 to rent out a room and parlour apartment for one Peace Uba.
She listed other monies collected by the defendant to include: N200,000 from one Christiana Osuji for a two-bedroom apartment and 240,000 from one Paulinus Onyia for another two-bedroom flat.
The prosecution counsel said that the defendant, after collecting the money from the complainants, disappeared until he was arrested on Dec. 19.
According to Ojobo, the offences are punishable under Section 386 of the Criminal Code, Revised Laws of Enugu State, 2004.
Meanwhile, the defendant pleaded with the court to have mercy on him, saying that it was his elder brother, who lived abroad, that misled him.
“The house I wanted to rent out was my late father’s house and I used the money collected from the defendants to renovate the flats, after which I rented them out to other people.
“It was my elder brother, who resides abroad, that put me in this mess,” he said. (NAN)
