A 29 year convicted armed robber, Nwajamba Nwauta, on Wednesday escaped death by hanging by the whiskers.
Nwauta, a trader, was however sentenced to 21 years imprisonment by an Ikeja high court presided by Justice Sedotan Ogunsanya for conspiracy and robbery.
Justice Ogunsanya in her judgement found the convict guilty of a two-count charge offence of conspiracy and armed robbery preferred against him by the state government.
“I find the defendant guilty of the two-count charge, he is hereby sentenced to 21 years in prison,” Ogunsanya said.
Nwauta, had escaped death sentence owing to the failure of the prosecution to convince the trial judge that the gun presented to the court as evidence was the one used in the armed robbery operation.
“I will not be relying on the evidence of ASP Rasheed Kilani because the revolver presented as evidence was not recovered by him but by a mob,” Justice Ogunsanya held.
Lagos state government had arraigned Nwauta on a two-count charge offence of armed robbery, alongside an accomplice still at large.
State Prosecutor, Mr Adebayo Haroun, had during trial told the court that Nwauta and his colleague, while armed with a locally made revolver, went to a jewellery shop, threatened and robbed the salesman, one Evan Obi, of a bag containing N25,000, a mobile phone and an unspecified amount of jewellery.
Haroun told the court that Nwauta and his accomplice ran out of luck when after the robbery, the salesman, raised an alarm and gave chase.
He said the commotion attracted a mob which caught Nwauta, beat him up and handed him over to the police.
He said his accomplice escaped with the stolen property and jewellery.
He said the convict and his accomplice committed the offences on September 13, 2011 at No. 24, Isolo Road, Egbe, Lagos.
According to him, the offences contravened Section 295(2) and 297 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011
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