Sentencing delays continue in extortion case
By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on March 17, 2022.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com A former Lethbridge man who has gone through four lawyers since he pleaded guilty more than a year ago to charges of extortion and being unlawfully in a house to commit an indictable offence, may finally resolve his charges.The matter for Oluwaseye Adekunle Morawo was in Lethbridge provincial court Wednesday, where his lawyer said he expects Morawo to finally agree to be sentenced after months of delays.
“We are all but prepared to proceed with sentencing,” Lethbridge lawyer Scott Hadford told the judge.
There is another option, however. Morawo has also considered applying to strike his guilty plea and set his matter for trial. That indecision, in addition to parting ways with three previous lawyers, has contributed to some of the delays. Hadford said his client, who is now living in Ontario, wants a few more days to consider the two options, and the matter should be decided when it returns to court next Wednesday.
“I’m very hopeful it will be for sentencing,” Hadford said.
Crown Prosecutor Adam Zelmer noted the Crown has been prepared to proceed with sentencing “for some time,” and insisted a step be taken at the next hearing.
“One of those two things needs to happen,” he said.
Judge Jerry LeGrandeur agreed, and said he’s not prepared to grant defence much more leeway.
Morawo pleaded guilty to the charges on Nov. 13, 2020, and admitted he entered a woman’s residence on Sept. 14, 2019, and forced her to return money he had paid her to rent a room in her apartment.
The previous August Morawo arranged to rent a room in the woman’s residence and later e-transferred her a deposit of $500. On Aug. 31 he and a friend showed up at her house and Morawo said he no longer wanted to rent the room, and demanded she return the deposit. She didn’t immediately return it and later learned she was not obligated to, especially since she had taken the room off the market after she received the deposit.
She texted Morawo and said she would not return the deposit, and after he threatened to take her to court, he and his friend showed up at her residence and walked in without her permission. When the woman told them to leave or she would call the police, Morawo grabbed her cellphone.
Fearing for her safety — the other man would not let her leave her residence — she drove to her bank with the two men closely following her in another vehicle. While she waited for the cash from the drive-through teller, Morawo stood in front of her vehicle to prevent her from leaving. She gave him the money and he left the area, but police found him later and he was arrested and charged. Follow @DShurtzHerald on Twitter 4
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