Lagos car dealer Ishatayo jailed for 6 years for defrauding customer ₦4.6 million

A court in Lagos, Nigeria, has sentenced Ganiyu Ishatayo, a car dealer to six years imprisonment for stealing.

The court sentenced the accused to six years imprisonment for defrauding his client, Oscar Lewis, of N4.6 million. He was found guilty of two counts of stealing and obtaining money by false pretense. The offences were committed by the Lagos State Police’s Fraud Unit. The prosecutor, Amedu Adoga, had presented the facts of the case to the court.

The court, however, gave the convict the option of either paying the money back to the complainant or serving the six-year prison sentence if he could not pay it back.

In November 2017, the accused, who was a car dealer, introduced himself to Oscar Lewis and told him that he was a dealer. He then took him to his office in Lagos and collected the money, which was part of the money he promised to give him for the sale of a Lexus 350X SUV. The police said that the convict knew that he was making a false claim.

According to the police, after the convict was able to collect the money from Oscar, he suddenly switched off his mobile phones and fled. The complainant then approached the police commissioner, who was the head of the Fraud Unit, to look into the matter. He gave the order to his team, which was led by DSP Ayuba, to arrest the suspect.

After weeks of tracking and intelligence gathering, the police arrested the convict at a hideout in Lagos. He was charged before an Igbosere magistrate court in Lagos on two counts of stealing and obtaining money by false pretense. The police prosecutor, Amedu Adoga, told the court that the offences were committed in November 2017.

According to Adoga, the court was told that the accused tricked Oscar into giving him the money, which he promised to give him for the sale of a Lexus vehicle. He knew that the car he was promised was not available.

Adoga stated that the convict committed the offences, which were punishable under sections 287 and 314 of the Criminal Law of Lagos state, 2015. He was granted bail, but he was later sentenced to six years imprisonment. During the course of the trial, the magistrate, Alogba, gave the convict a six-year prison sentence.