A Nigerian, Stanley Obinna Nwora, who recently returned from the United States of America (USA), was on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, convicted by a Lagos Federal High Court, for unlawful importation and possession of Indian hemp.
Stanley had pleaded guilty to the charges when he was arraigned before the court presided over by Justice Akintayo Aluko, on June 18, but the prosecution was unable to review the facts of the offense due to the indisposition of the exhibits keeper.
Consequently, Justice Aluko deferred till today for a review of the facts of the offenses and sentence of the convict.
in reviewing the facts of the offenses, the prosecutor, Mr. Umar Hussain, told the court that the convict, a resident of 6, Moses Ebitu, SPG Road Ologolo, Lekki, Lagos, was arrested with 543 grams of Cannabis Sativa popularly called marijuana, on May 17, 2023.
He told the court that the offenses which the convict charges with contravened Sections 11(a) 19 of the NDLEA Act Cap. N30 Laws of the Federation, 2004 (as Amended).
The prosecutor also called a witness, Mr. Moses Dogo, an operative in the agency, who tendered all exhibits in the matter.
Upon admitting the exhibits, the prosecutor urged the court to sentence the convict following the sections of the NDLEA Act he was charged with.
But the convict’s counsel, Chief Benson Ndakara, in his allocution, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing his client, as he is a first-time convict, without any record of previous conviction.
Ndakara also told the court that his client was a victim of circumstances, who was deceived by friends to collect a parcel of which he did not know the content.
Justice Aluko after taking arguments of counsel, sentenced the convict to one year in each of the counts, adding that the time of the sentence shall run concurrently.
The lawyer urged the court to consider a non-custodial sentence for his client and the option of a fine in place of jail terms.
The judge however ordered the convict to pay the sum of N300, 000, in place of the jail term.
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