A magistrate’s court sitting in Obubra, Cross River State
has sentenced one James Ochiche to two years imprisonment for impersonating the
state commandant of Nigeria Peace Corps, Dominic Okweche.
Ochiche was accused by the Nigeria Peace Corps of parading himself
as a deputy commandant and collecting between N5,000 and N8,000 from
unsuspecting members of the public as service charge for recruitment into the
service.
Delivering his judgment on two counts in Suit Number
MC/779C/2013, the presiding magistrate, Adome Etaba, held that the accused was
guilty of the first-count charge because he was dismissed from service in 2012
and as such could not carry out any function on behalf of the organisation.
The magistrate, however, stated that there was no sufficient
evidence against the accused that he fraudulently collected money for
recruitment.
Etaba said, “After going through all the arguments and
submission from both the defence and prosecuting counsel, I have found the
accused, James Ochiche guilty of impersonation.
“The evidence presented before the court shows that the
accused was dismissed from the organisation in 2012. There is a letter from the
headquarters of the organisation conveying his dismissal, which he signed an
undertaking to.
“I have listened to the appeal by the accused and the
application by the defence counsel for mercy, but the offence of impersonation
is a punishable offence that attracts 14 years imprisonment.
“However, the essence of punishment is not as punitive
measure, but to correct. Therefore, I hereby sentence him to two years
imprisonment without option of a fine.”
On the second charge, the magistrate said, “There is no
sufficient evidence before the court to show that the accused was guilty of
collecting money to recruit people into the organisation. Therefore, I declare
him discharged and acquitted.”
Reacting to the judgment, the counsel for the defendant,
Atim Egbe, who expressed disappointment over the ruling, said he would appeal
against it in a higher court.
Egbe said, “I am not satisfied with the judgment because the
matter was not properly addressed. The magistrate said the accused failed to
call the national commandant. It is not in his place to have called him. Even
before the open court, the national commandant was called to answer some
questions, but the court did not say anything about that.
“Secondly, when my client gave evidence that he was acting
under the instruction of the national commandant, he was asked to show
evidence, which he tendered as exhibit before the court and nothing was said
about it. So, definitely, we are appealing the judgment.”
On his part, the prosecuting counsel, John Ogban, commended
the magistrate for the judgment, adding that the evidence against the defendant
was too glaring to have been ignored.
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