An Ekiti State Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting in Ado Ekiti, has sentenced two lovers – Victor Olawusi, 18, and Mary Idris, 20 – to two weeks community service for faking a kidnap.
Chief Magistrate Adefunke Anoma, who sentenced Olawusi and Idris on Monday, also directed the Ekiti State Judiciary’s chief security officer to supervise them during the service.
Anoma also recommended two weeks counselling for the two convicts, to be supervised by the court’s Registrar.
Police prosecutor, Monica Ikebulo, had earlier told the court that on August 9, 2020, Idris connived with Olawusi to hide her whereabouts from her parents, lied to them that she had been kidnapped and demanded a ransom from them.
In her defence, Idris told the court that she went to her boyfriend’s residence at Akure, Ondo State, “for fun”, but because she did not have her transport fare for her return journey to Ado Ekiti, she sent an alarming message to her parents that she had been kidnapped and was, in connivance with Olawusi, expecting them to send a ransom.
Magistrate Anoma condemned Idris’ action, wondering how a girl of her age “writing an international examination would leave the comfort of her home and go to stay at a guest house for four days.”
“This, again, is, sadly, a sign of high moral decadence in the fabric of our society,” the magistrate said.
