A 42-year-old widow, Isioma Ogaonye, has been ordered by Justice Deinde Isaac Dipeolu of the Federal High Court in Lagos to perform six months of community service and pay a fine of N2 million for unlawfully dealing in prohibited drugs.
Justice Dipeolu ordered Ogaonye to perform the community service sentence under the supervision of the officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Dipeolu gave the verdicts after the convict pleaded guilty to dealing in 766 grams of cannabis sativa, popularly called marijuana and 15 grams of Methamphetamine, a narcotic similar to Cocaine and heroin.
The NDLEA prosecutor, Juliana Negedu, had earlier informed the court that the convict was arrested with illicit substances on January 31, 2024, at Ogombo, Ajah area of Lagos State.
Negedu had also informed the judge that the offence is punishable under sections 11 (c) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap N 30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
Based on the convict’s plea, the prosecutor urged the court to convict and sentence her by the Sections of the law under which she was charged.
But the defence counsel, Oke Ojakovo, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, stating that his client was a first-time offender with no previous conviction record.
Ojakovo, particularly, pleaded with the court to impose a community service option on the convict instead of a custodial sentence.
Justice Dipeolu, in his judgment, sentenced the convict to six months of community service and to pay the sum of N2 million instead of a two years imprisonment.
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