BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
A Magistrate Court sitting in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State has sentenced an operator of a Point of Sale machine, Okeh Clement, to two years imprisonment for defrauding a customer.
Clement, aged 27, was found guilty of withdrawing the sum of N500, 000 from the account of his customer, Abraham Ezeh, in September, 2020 instead of the agreed N50, 000.
The charge preferred against the convict read that “Okeh Clement, sometime in the month of September, 2020, in Oshiegbe Ezza North Local Government Area, did with intent to defraud Abraham Ezeh, obtained the sum of N500,000 through POS account and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 419 of the Criminal Code, Cap 33 Volume 1 laws of Ebonyi State, Nigeria, 2009.”
Consequently, Magistrate Linda Ogodo, having found Clement guilty as charged, sentenced him to two-year-jail-term.
She also ordered that the convict should restitute by refunding the said amount.
Narrating his ordeal to The Point shortly after the judgement, Ezeh Abraham, said that Clement ran away and closed down his POS outlet when he confronted him.
However, he said that the convict was later arrested by the police.
“Sometimes in the month of September, 2020, I went to Clement Okeh’s POS shop close to Oshiegbe Market in the evening to withdraw the sum of N50,000 only to clear some of my pressing bills because it was getting late and Oshiegbe is far from Abakaliki town where I can access the bank ATM.
“At the end of the transaction that day, I didn’t get any bank alert to know the actual amount withdrawn and the POS person claimed that there was a network problem at the time so he didn’t give me the print out of the said transaction. I went home not envisaging any foul play till three days later, around 4pm when I suddenly got a debit alert of N500, 000 instead of N50, 000.
“I got confused because I knew I had not done any other transaction. So, immediately, I rushed to Clement’s shop for an explanation but I found out from his neighbours that he had not come to shop ever since the day I came for the transaction.
“I thank the Nigeria Police that assisted me to arrest him. Through their timely interventions, the boy (Clement) was arrested before he could run to Lagos as planned.
“I am not interested in him going to jail; my interest is to get my money back,” the complainant said.
