Okada riders

An Ado-Ekiti High Court on Tuesday convicted and sentenced an Okada rider, Mathew Ode,32, to 21 years in prison for armed robbery.

Justice Isaac Ogunyemi, in a judgment, found the convict guilty of snatching, with offence weapon – knife-, a bag containing N478,000, three Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards and other valuable from a victim, Tayo Ajibola.

“I have carefully considered the evidence of the witnesses for the prosecution and that of the accused persons

“I found the evidence of the prosecution counsel credible and reliable.

“The accused person is hereby sentenced to 21-year imprisonment without any option of fine,’’ he held.

The state counsel, Mr Femi Onipede had told the court that the convict committed the offence with other members of his gang, now at large, on Nov.10, 2015 along Iworoko road, Ado-Ekiti.

Onipede said that the convict who was carrying the victim on his motorcycle deliberately moved towards other members of his gang where they snatched the bag from the victim.

He said the victim pleaded with the convict to chase the robbers but he declined, claiming that his bike was faulty.

He said the convict also refused to allow the victim to come down from the motorcycle, but took him to a distance of about three kilometres enduring the beating and biting from Ajibola.

The lawyer said it took the intervention someone driving a black SUV who blocked the motorcycle and forced it to stop.

According to him, the offences contravene Section 403(a) and 402(2) of the Criminal Code, Cap C 16,Laws of Ekiti State, 2012. (NAN)