Fake lawyer bags three years imprisonment with hard labour

A Magistrates’ Court in Ipetmodu, Osun, on Monday, sentenced a fake lawyer, Melvin Oromidayo, to three years imprisonment with hard labour.

Magistrate Abosede Sarumi, sentenced Oromidayo after he pleaded guilty.

Sarumi held that though the convict pleaded guilty to the three counts of forgery, impersonation, and fraud; a sinner must not go unpunished.

She added that the sentence would serve as a deterrent to other offenders and the convict.

Sarumi condemned the conduct of Oromidayo and wondered about the countless sorrows the fake lawyer must have caused aggrieved families who had seen the lawyer as their saviour.

The Magistrate said, “On count one, two, three, I sentence him to three years imprisonment on each count respectively with hard labour and without an option of fine”.

She added that the terms would run concurrently.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Asp Joseph Adebayo, said that the convict committed the offence on Jan 20, 2020 at Ipetumodu Magistrates’ Court, Ife North Local Government Area of Osun.

Adebayo said that the convict forged a stamp with the inscription: “MELVIN A OROMIDAYO ESQ, BARRISTER SOLICITOR REAL LEGAL CHAMBER”.

He added that the convict intended that the same stamp be acted upon as genuine with the impression of presenting himself as a qualified lawyer called to the Nigeria Bar.

According to him, the convict fraudulently uttered a false document with inscription: MELVIN A OROMIDAYO ESQ, BARRISTER SOLICITOR REAL LEGAL CHAMBER” which presented him to the public as a qualified lawyer.

The prosecutor stated further that the convict wrote a statement at the police station that he finished from Law School, Enugu, but failed at the final exam.

Adebayo expressed further that on Jan 21, he opened up and confessed he is not a law student neither attended any University but went to Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti where he studied Estate Management.

Adebayo stated that the offence contravened the provisions of sections 467(4) and 484 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Osun, 2002.