Islamic Cleric Bags 14 years imprisonment for Attempted Robbery

An Islamic cleric identified as Taofeek Olawale has been sentenced to 14 years for attempted robbery by an Ikeja high court.

The Islamic cleric also known as Alfa Taofeek who has been in prison since March  2012 has been finally sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for two count charges of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and attempted armed robbery.

In the court hearing, Olawale had told the court that he has gone to offer a sacrifice for his client on March 6, 2012. Olawale said he lived with his girlfriend at Lakwe

“On the day of the incident around 12 am, I had gone to the T-junction at Lakwe dressed in a white Jalabiya to offer sacrifices on behalf of my client who was suffering from leg pains and also spiritual problems.

“It was while I was chanting 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,”

The complainant, Jephthah Ekwueme according to his of the story said he was sleeping sometimes in his room on the same March 6, when someone suddenly shone a  torchlight through his window and commanded that he open the door.

Ekwueme said.

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

“I grabbed a cutlass and swung it through the window and it hit one of them. They thereafter took to their heels and it was then I opened the door and shouted for my neighbours. I pursued one of them who happened to be the defendant who I had injured with the cutlass who was also wearing a long white garment.

“He ran into the next compound and I followed him there. I managed to subdue him until the police arrived,”

After hearing both parties, the presiding judge, Justice Raliat Adebiyi found the defendant guilty of the charges leveled against him on the grounds that the prosecution was able to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt.

“The only witness in the matter told the court that the defendant was wearing a white garment when he was caught on the night of the incident, and this was also corroborated by the defendant who also affirmed that he was wearing a white Jalabiya on the night of the incident.

“The defendant was also caught at the scene of the crime with the witness, who is also the victim identifying him,” the Judge ruled.

Justice Adebiyi finally read her judgment and sentenced the convict to 14 years in imprisonment on both counts.

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