A man named Felix Ayeye was given a 14-year prison term on Tuesday by the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja for stabbing and robbing a bartender named Jones Adewoye of his phone and other stuff valued N78,000.
Despite the fact that the trial had already begun in November 2022 when Ayeye decided to take a plea deal, Justice Modupe Nico-Clay nonetheless delivered the verdict to the defendant.
The defendant altered his plea from not guilty to guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery and armed robbery that were brought against him by the Lagos State Government on Tuesday.
Ayeye entered a guilty plea, and Justice Nico-Clay found him guilty and gave him a 14-year prison term.
Adewoye described how he was robbed of his phone and other valuables worth N78,000 while being stabbed in the back with a blade to a Lagos High Court at Tafawa Balewa Square during trial.
The first witness for the prosecution had described to the court how the inmate Felix Ayeye and others who are still at large stabbed him and stole his property.
Mrs. Titilayo Olanrewaju-Daudu, the state’s prosecutor, had informed the court during the convict’s arraignment that Ayeye and other suspects who are currently at large colluded to conduct the crimes.
According to Olanrewaju-Daudu, the event happened on February 23, 2019, at around 4:30 am at the Ilaje Bus-stop in the Lagos neighborhood of Ajah.
She claimed that Ayeye robbed one Jones Adewoye of a gold necklace worth N20,000, a red shoe worth N8,000, and a Samsung S3A phone, which is worth N50,000, while brandishing a blade and a shattered bottle.
The prosecution asserts that the offenses violated Sections 299 and 297 (2) (b) of Lagos State’s penal code in 2015.
Adewoye informed the court that he was a professional bartender and was returning home from work when the incident occurred. He was led in evidence-in-chief by Olanrewaju-Daudu.
Adewoye also informed the court that the police had instructed them to go to the police station in order to properly report what had occurred.
“I made a statement, and the next day the defendant and his crew were taken into custody by the police. When his family came to beg me and asked how much the stuff he took from me were worth, I told them N200,000. The police then handed me a report for treatment, and during that time, I lost my job.
“The family presented N60,000, but I declined and informed them there was nothing I could do because the problem had already been reported to the police.
Then, he continued, “in 2020, the defendant began communicating with my wife from prison, threatening to deal with her once he was released from custody.”