A 24-year-old man, Tosin Michael, on Wednesday begged a Gudu Upper Area Court for mercy after admitting that he cheated one of his customers of his N170,000 to pay his wife’s dowry.
Michael told the court, shortly before his conviction, that he “mistakenly” used the said sum, meant for his customer’s aluminum windows, to pay his wife’s dowry.
He, however, told the court that he was currently handling a job for another of his customers and intended to refund the money to the former after he would have been paid.
“My lord, please tamper justice with mercy so that I can go and work to repay the N170,000 to the owner,” he said.
The presiding judge, Alhaji Umar Kagarko, sentenced Michael to four weeks’ imprisonment with an option of N5,000 fine.
Kagarko said that he based his sentence on Section 112 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.
The convict, a resident of Gauraka in Niger State, was sentenced after he had pleaded guilty to the two-count charge of criminal breach of trust and cheating.
He was also ordered to pay N170, 000 as compensation to the plaintiff.
The prosecutor, Urom Otu, had told the court that Okonkwo Christopher of Development Control site, Wuye, Abuja reported the matter at the Wuye Police Station on April 15.
He said that the plaintiff awarded a N170,000 contract to the convict on March 17 to fabricate Aluminium windows for him.
Otu said that the convict absconded with the sum without doing the plaintiff’s job.
The prosecutor told the court that when the convict was arrested, he admitted that he collected the money, but used it to pay his wife’s dowry.
Otu told the court that the offences contravened Sections 312 and 322 of the Penal Code.
