A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, presided over by Justice E. A. Obile has convicted and sentenced one Miracle Deele to jail for fraud.
Deele was convicted and sentenced upon his arraignment on Monday, May 26 by the Port Harcourt Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a three counts bothering on impersonation and advance fee fraud.
One of the charges reads: “That you, Miracle Deele, sometime in 2024 at Port Harcourt, Rivers State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, had in your Tecno Spark mobile phone, documents containing false pretences with different subjects which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence Contrary to Section 6 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.”
The convict pleaded “guilty” when the charges were read to him, according to a statement signed by Dele Oyewale, EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicly on Monday.
The prosecution counsel, E. Abbiyesu, following the guilty plea of the convict reviewed the facts of the case and called a witness, Abdulazeez Jafar, an officer of the EFCC through whom he tendered some incriminating documents which were admitted in evidence.
Jafar, while being led in evidence, told the court that Deele was arrested by the Commission sometime in April, 2025 at Eneka axis of Port Harcourt, following credible intelligence that exposed his fraudulent internet activities.
The EFCC’s witness further revealed that the convict specialised in romance scam and created Facebook and Telegram accounts using the picture of a female US citizen, Jenifer Annoson to communicate with his victims, one of whom is Anthony, a male US citizen and was professing love to every man he chatted with, with the intent of gaining financial advantage for himself.
He disclosed that the convict volunteered his statements in writing in the presence of his lawyer at the Port Harcourt Zonal Directorate of the Commission.
Consequent upon the defendant’s guilty plea, tendered exhibits and the testimony of the witness, the prosecution prayed the court to convict and sentence him accordingly.
The defence counsel, B. I. O Egwu on his part, prayed the court to temper justice with mercy, stating that his client has regretted his actions.
Justice Obile thereafter convicted and sentenced Defendant to four months in Port Harcourt Correctional Centre with an option of N300,000 (Three Hundred Thousand Naira) fine.
In addition, the convict forfeited his Tecno Spark mobile phone to the federal government and deposed to an affidavit of good behaviour before the court, going forward.
