Court gives welder 2 weeks to refund client or go to prison

News Agency Of Nigeria

May 16, 2023 3:10 PM

The defendant will be attached to the Nigerian Correctional Service for monitoring.

The welder will also pay the client for the inconvenience of not delivering work as promised

A Gwagwalada Upper Area Court has ordered a welder, Matthew Moses, to refund ₦85,000 within two weeks to a complainant, Gabriel Adeleye, for a job not done or face a sentence.

The police charged Moses who resides in Sauka village, Abuja with cheating.

The judge, Abdullahi Abdulkarim, gave the order after the defendant pleaded guilty to the charge.

"The defendant should construct another set of windows and doors for the complainant or refund him the ₦85,000 he paid for the work within two weeks.

"The defendant should pay ₦10,000 to the complainant for inconvenience and damages. He is to pay another ₦5,000 to the nominal complainant being expenses for prosecuting the case.

"The defendant should be attached to the Nigerian Correctional Service for monitoring," he ruled.

Abdulkarim said that if the defendant defaulted in meeting the conditions given, he should be brought back for conviction and sentencing.

Earlier, the prosecution counsel, Abdullahi Tanko, told the court that Adeleye, of the same address, reported the matter at Iddo Police Division on May 13.

Tanko said the complainant gave the defendant ₦85,000 to construct and deliver 10 burglarproof windows and two doors to him.

He said that the defendant, after construction, refused to deliver the work instead he deliberately sold them and converted the money to his own use.

The prosecutor said that the offence contravened the provision of Section 322 of the Penal Code.

News Agency Of Nigeria