Lagos court sentences WhatsApp hacker to 32 months imprisonment

It was the end of the road for a WhatsApp hacker, Stephen Andrew Ojo, as he was sentenced to 32 months in jail by a Federal High Court, Lagos, for defrauding a victim of N700,000.

Justice Akintayo Aluko convicted and sentenced the hacker after he pleaded guilty to the charge brought against him by the police.

He had earlier pleaded not guilty to the offence when he was arraigned in December 2023 by the operatives of Zone 2 Command of the Nigeria Police Force, Onikan, Lagos,

He was arraigned on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, identity theft, obtaining the sum of N700,000, by false pretence and money laundering.

At the commencement of trial on May 7, 2024, the convict changed his plea to guilty of all the charges, and Justice Aluko fixed May 31 for review of facts and sentence.

However, the prosecutor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Zebedee Arekhandia, while reviewing the facts of the charge, called the Investigation Police Officer (IPO) Inspector Austin Egho.

He tendered some documentary exhibits, which were admitted by the court. The prosecutor urged the court to sentence the convict as charged, based on his guilty plea, prosecution witness, and exhibits.

The judge, therefore, sentenced the convict to eight months in each of the count, but ordered that the jail-term shall run concurrently.

Justice Akintayo Aluko also ordered that the convict’s jail term start from the date he was arrested and detained by the police on December 20, 2023.