Justice Oyindamola Ogala of an Ikeja High Court has sentenced one Sharafadeen Irorun to 10 years imprisonment for scamming Muslim pilgrims of N7.5 million.

Irorun was in April, arraigned before the court and was found guilty on four out of a 12-count charge of obtaining by false pretence and stealing brought against him by the Lagos State Government.

The trial judge held that the prosecution had established that the defendant and others who are at large are a criminal group and convicted Irorun on counts 1, 2, 5 and 6.

The presiding judge at his conviction, said

“The defendant and others who are at large, are a criminal group who unwittingly dispossessed innocent persons of their money under the pretext of helping them undergo the Hajj pilgrimage.”

The judge convicted him on Section 312, 285 (9) (b) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2011. However, while sentencing the convict on Thursday, May 23, the judge held that the convict obtained by false presence and stealing.

She, therefore, sentenced him to 10 years’ imprisonment and ordered that the prison term should commence from June 6, 2022.

During the trial, the prosecution counsel, Mr O. A. Azeez, called three witnesses including one of the nominal complainants who contributed the money which the third prosecution witness (PW3), Alhaji Lukman Abdulkareem, gave to the defendant.

The judge found that the PW1 and PW2 had no direct involvement with the defendant but supported the evidence of the PW3 who was involved with the defendant and whose evidence she called “succinct and direct.”