Ghanaian jailed 17 years for dealing in marijuana

By -
(Nigeria) A Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday sentenced a 29-year-old Ghanaian, Patrick Mensah, to 17 years imprisonment for dealing in marijuana.
Mensah's imprisonment followed his conviction by Justice Okon Abang.
The judge, who pronounced the Ghanaian guilty on the strength of his confessional statement and the evidence tendered by the prosecution, said he was "convinced that the accused committed the offence and he is hereby convicted as charged."
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency had on April 2, arraigned Mensah on one count of dealing in 27.6 kg of "vegetable leaves" which tested to be Canabis Sativa.
The Prosecutor, Mr Orji Kalu, had told the court that the offence contravened Section 11(c) of the NDLEA Act, Cap No. 30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
Mensah pleaded guilty.
While reviewing the facts of the case on Monday, Kalu told the court that the convict was caught by NDLEA operatives sometime in 2014, at Ebule-Egba, Lagos, in possession of the outlawed substance.
The prosecution supported its case by tendering various exhibits before the court including the bulk of the marijuana seized from Mensah and the confessional statement that the convict was said to have freely made to the anti-narcotic agency.
Following the admission of the exhibits in evidence against the convict, Kalu urged the court to convict Mensah as charged.
"My Lord, in view of the guilty plea of the accused and all the evidence tendered by the prosecution in this matter, we pray Your Lordship to convict the accused person as charged, in line with Sections 218 and 285(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act," Kalu said.
Abang, accordingly, convicted Mensah and subsequently entertained plea of leniency from the convict’s counsel, Mr G.U. Okaka.
Okaka asked the court to show leniency in sentencing Mensah as he was a first time offender with no previous record of conviction and for having pleaded guilty to the offence at the first instance.
The defence counsel also urged the court to consider the fact that his client had been in the prison custody for almost a year and had lost touch with his family in Ghana.
"My Lord, he is deeply remorseful for the offence he committed and has promised to go back to Ghana at the end of his punishment.
"I most passionately urge the court to temper justice with mercy and give him a second chance as he is still a young man," Okaka pleaded.
But Abang, who said that he had listened dispassionately to Okaka's plea of leniency, described Mensah as an ungrateful foreigner who entered and was accommodated in Nigeria since 2010 "eating and drinking" only to pay the country back with evil.
The judge, in pronouncing the sentence, said that the decision of the court in criminal matters should be such that it would discourage crime in the society.
Abang held that "a decision of the court of law in a criminal matter like this should serve as deterrence to other Nigerian youths.’’
"The convict unlawfully dealt in 27.6kg of canabis sativa. The seed of wrong doing is to face the wrath of the law.
"I hereby sentence the convict to 17 years of imprisonment with effect from today.
"The exhibit shall be destroyed by the NDLEA."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

UBTH @50: Obaseki hails institution’s role in strengthening Edo healthcare

By -
Image
(Nigeria) Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, has commended the staff and management of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, UBTH, for their unwavering commitment, dedication, and hard work in providing high-quality healthcare services to the people of Edo State and Nigeria in the past fifty years. Obaseki, at a dinner organized in honour of the Committee of Chief Medical Directors of Nigeria, at the Government House, Benin City, reassured the government’s continuous partnership and collaboration with the federal government-owned health institution to strengthen the health system and ensure quality health delivery to Edo people. The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Philip Shaibu, reeled out the gains of the government’s reforms in the health sector, commending the medical centre for bolstering the government’s efforts at transforming Edo State into a health hub. He said, "We came into a wilderness where you have to cut a part for yourself and fix it. We held
Read more

NBC has no powers to impose fine on broadcast stations --Court

By -
Image
(Nigeria) The National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, has been restrained by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, from imposing fines on broadcast stations in the country. Trial judge in the matter, Justice James Omotosho also set aside the N500,000 fines imposed on March 1, 2019, on each of 45 broadcast stations. The court made the orders in its judgment a suit by the Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda, MRA, which had sued the NBC. Justice Omotosho held that the NBC, not being a court of law, had no power to impose sanctions as punishment on broadcast stations. The court further held that the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, which gives the commission the power to impose sanction, is in conflict with Section 6 of the Constitution that vested judicial power in the court of law. He said the court would not sit idle and watch a body imposing fine arbitrarily without recourse to the law. He said that the commission did not comply with the law when it sat as a complainant and at
Read more