Judge finds Bobrisky guilty and sets April 9 for his sentencing

Popular Nigerian cross-dresser Idris Okuneye, also known as Bobisky, was found guilty on Friday by a Federal High Court in Lagos of mutilating Naira notes.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, handled the convict’s prosecution.

After entering a guilty plea to the charge brought against him by the EFCC, the defendant was found guilty by trial judge Justice Abimbola Awogboro.

The convict was ordered to be held in the custody of the EFCC, and the court postponed sentencing until April 9.

Bobrisky was scheduled on Friday, even though the EFCC had filed a six-count charge against him on Thursday.

The allegation states that money laundering counts five and six borders, while suspected tampering with naira notes is counted one through four borders.

Upon calling the case, Mr. Suleiman Suleiman, the prosecutor, informed the court that the defendant had consented to enter a guilty plea to the charge after some negotiation.

Orally, he moved to strike out counts five and six, leaving only numbers one through four. As a result, the court rejected counts five and six.

The defendant entered a guilty plea when the remaining counts were read to him.

Following his plea, the prosecutor asked the investigating police officer to serve as a prosecution witness and provide a brief summary of the case.

According to the EFCC witness, Mr. Bolaji Temitope, the team discovered a video during their investigation that showed the defendant destroying the Naira notes.

He said that a letter of invitation was delivered to the defendant and that the movies were downloaded and duplicated onto a Compact Disc (CD).

He claimed that the defendant accepted the invitation, was warned upon arriving at the EFCC office, and then offered to make a statement.

The defendant was then shown a video in which he was spraying money on an artist named Segun Johnson, the witness told the court, and the defendant acknowledged that he was the guy in the video.

He stated that the defendant was again given a video of him at a movie premiere in Circle Mall Lekki, Lagos, when he sprayed N400,000, and that the defendant once more acknowledged doing so.

He informed the court that despite the defendant having seen two films showing him throwing money at the intersection of Ajah and Ikorodu in Lagos, the defendant had continued to admit the same.

At this point, the prosecutor played the witness a CD that included the videos, the defendant’s statement, and an identity document.

The defence did not object, and the witness attested to this to the court. Mr. Ayo Olumofin showed up as the defence attorney.

The court acknowledged this and designated exhibits A, B1, and B2. Subsequently, the prosecution implored the court to find the defendant guilty as charged, citing the evidence put up by the EFCC.

As a result, the court judged the defendant guilty of the offence for which he was charged, leading to his conviction.

The defendant informed the court that he is a social media influencer with five million followers during his plea for compassion.

He said: “In all honesty, I was not aware of the law; my lord, I wish I can be given a second chance to use my platform to educate my followers about spraying the naira

“I will do a video on my page and educate those who do not know like myself, about spraying of the Naira; I regret my action,” he said

On his part. defence counsel begged for a non custodial sentence for the defendant.

The court then rose briefly after the allocutus by defence.

When the court resumed, the judge reserved sentencing until April 9, and ordered that he be remanded in EFCC custody pending judgment.