A NIGERIAN gospel singer, Oluwamayowa Ajayi, who fleeced four American women he met on the internet dating site, Match.com, of over £120,000 was jailed for six and a half years on Friday evening at Snakesbrook Crown Court in East London.

Ajayi, 31, who is an overstayer in Britain, looked blank and and showed no outward emotions as he was handed the sentence. As if resigned to fate, he walked sheepishly behind one of the two female security guards who led him out of Courtroom 20, where his fate was sealed .

About a minute earlier, Judge Sarah Paneth told him, “I’m sentencing you to six and a half years. You may now go down - a technical term for jail. “

Ajayi, who performs under the stage name, “Malo Joe“ pretended to be an American fighter pilot , a grieving widower and an oil executive to the women he fleeced before the long arms of the law caught up with him.

Prior to his sentencing that evening, both the crown prosecutor and his defence counsel spent close to two hours making last minute submissions to the Judge.

While the crown prosecutor summed up his argument stating how Ajayi lived off the women by lying -among others, in one instance - that he had been held hostage by Niger Delta militants and therefore, his captors needed some ransom before he could be released, otherwise, they would kill him, his defence lawyer, John Femi -Ola pleaded with the court: “don’t crush him so that he can have the opportunity to do something useful with his life ,” after his term. Femi-Ola also told the Judge that “this is his first time.”

Despite the pleas for mercy, it was inevitable that he would be caged. After listening to the pleas from both sides, the Judge took a 20- minute break at 3.40p.m. and when the court re-convened at 4.00p.m., she took about 40 minutes to read her sentencing notes, detailing the seven- count charge that Ajayi had been found guilty off by the jury who had found him guilty four days earlier.

In one instance, she tricked and lied to one of his victims who parted with over $100, 000, that he was a businessman who was short of cash and therefore, needed a loan. The woman used some of the money on her credit card and also borrowed from family members to raise the funds.

In another, Ajayi claimed he was in the hands of Niger Delta militants and they would kill him within 20 hours if the woman didn’t do anything about the ransom they asked her to pay. She hurriedly sent $500 through Moneygram to Nigeria, where he then cashed the money.

According to the Judge, “all the four women were embarrassed” when each discovered they were dealing with a con man and not someone who loved them and was in a relationship. Of course, none knew about the other until detectives contacted them after his arrest.

The Judge told him,” you defrauded women of the sums the women cannot afford to lose.”

Ajayi, the Judge noted, would have continued preying on more innocent women had the arms of the law not caught up with him. As the Judge read her notes, his well wishers, numbering about seven, gasped and he looked resigned to his imminent fate before the curtained fell on his fraudulent life at 4.40p.m., when the judge told him, “I’m sentencing you to six and a half years. You may now go down.” The court guards wasted no time in sandwiching him between themselves as they led him out of the courtroom.

Although it’s not certain if he will be deported after his term, but Ajayi, who initially came to the United Kingdom (UK) on a six month visa in 2004, overstayed. He then left and on his return to the UK, falsely obtained a driver’s licence using the name of a Portuguese man who had died in 2004. This, the Judge noted, showed that the gospel singer was a chief in the criminal operation for which he was being jailed.

http://ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=105244:in-london-nigerian-gospel-artiste-jailed-for-defrauding-online-lovers-of-p120000-&catid=3:metro&Itemid=558

Sentence all our former head of state to the very present. Then I will knw u r serious. Una go jail al of us.

Gospel singer ke.... Well even pastors δεγ do worse pass A̶̲̥̅♏ back home

^^^ this lunatic is still roaming the streets of Nl?
@topic, cage the bast.ärd! Those are the few stil painting us black outside and soiling our name!

Good news for this morning,what so ever u sow u reap full stop.

Na nigerian own the whole world go hear - I watched BBC and the said banker and he also was jailed for 7 yrs hahakweku adoboli
www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financial-crime/9690206/UBS-rogue-trader-Kweku-Adoboli-jailed-for-seven-years.html
Well Uk prison go full of africans o I wonder

And they an average african have an IQ of 89 while he/she can defraud those with 119 above. Chaii naija boi no dey carry last wo

huh? oboy you get mind ooooooo...... see your fomat, hahaha yahoo guys becareful ooo so you won't land in jail, @coded

The guy na agboro, but he missed his steps.

The average Nigerian is criminally-inclined,bad influence to the world,the only good that comes out of nigeria is our oil

it would seem the yorubas are leading in internet scam, ibos on drug and robbery and hausas in terrorism.
But on a serious note, there is no tribe or race that doesn't have criminals amongst them and yorubas won't cry foul that this news makes the front page, its just news.

That is why we must think of the consequence accrued to whatever action we take.... Like they use to say 'It will come home to roost'......

Singing Ukwa's song...."I go chop your dollar"

lmao @ the "Niger Delta militants kidnapping him" scam...
Oyibo people are dumb..i swear!!
Still falling for the oldest trick in the book...
Shioor!!
Good for Ajayi though...
E don tey wey im don be criminal..gospel criminal for that matter..!!
Good riddance!!

I wonder why these nigerians do internet scam overseas and think they won't get caught one day. Foreign countries security isn't like nigeria's own, They'll easily trace and track you down...... Even if you want to do scam let it be from your country cos you could be on it for decades and not get caught. Even policemen bust into cyber-cafes and peoples houses here in nigeria knowing full well that they're online scammers and they end up leaving them with bribe..

Over 30million naira..I have been working legally and HARD for more than a year now and I have not saved up to half of that. What kind of useless life is this self? Mtcheeeeeeeeeeeeeeew

Ajayi, 31, who is an overstayer in Britain, looked blank and and showed no outward emotions as he was handed the sentence. As if resigned to fate, he walked sheepishly behind one of the two female security guards who led him out of Courtroom 20, where his fate was sealed .
He looked blank because he didnt feel he had done anything wrong

Congratulations to him.

what do you expect from stealing and dem come catch u

This is one of the major issues I have with nairaland. A Yoruba fella commits a crime, guess what the headline will be..... A Nigerian has been sentenced for bla bla bla. When an ibo man or someone from other ethnic groups commits same crime, the headline reads thus: Ibo man/ Hausa man sentenced for bla bla bla! Some people in nairaland high places are trying to be more catholic than the pope which is unfathomable.

Funny how this thread would have reached two/three pages in minutes if the criminal here was igbo....

it could have been worse for both criminal and victims imagine if he had added drugging,raping and killing the women just to hide his tracks or whatever cynthia's maniacs were trying to achieve.6 and half in jail is like 3 years in normal count,this guy will be out before his 35th birthday,still has his whole life ahead of him

mrkels: Over 30million naira..I have been working legally and HARD for more than a year now and I have not saved up to half of that. What kind of useless life is this self? Mtcheeeeeeeeeeeeeeew

bros na to go do ritual remain for u....tiff