A 30-year-old labourer in Abuja, identified as Samson Ibrahim, has been sentenced to 17 months imprisonment for stealing meat and tomatoes.
Ibrahim of Perfect Combination Garden Abuja was arraigned at a Lugbe Grade I Area Court on a two-count charge of joint act and theft. The defendant pleaded guilty and begged the court for leniency.
News Agency of Nigeria reports that Justice Aliyu Kagarko, on Monday convicted him and gave the option of a N50,000 fine.
The prosecutor, Olisaemeka Okeke informed the court that the complainant, Amilsa Rabiat, of the same address, reported the matter at the Life Police station on January 9.
Okeke said that the convict and one Silas Garba, at large, were caught by a vigilante group in Life Camp on January 8 at about 11:30pm when they went to Perfect Combination Garden and stole a bag full of meat, tomatoes worth N200,000 and a gas cylinder belonging to the complainant’s neighbour.
The prosecutor also said police investigation revealed that on November 15, 2023 the convict and Garba trespassed into the complainant’s garden and made away with a 40-inch television valued at N80,000 and one speaker valued at N130,000.
He told the court that the convict also confessed to having stolen 21 crates of beer and bottle water valued at N230,000 from the complainant’s shop.
After delivering judgment, justice Kagarko warned the convict to be a good citizen and of good behaviour and desist from committing crimes after serving his jail term. He said the punishment would have been stiffer if the convict had not saved the court from the rigours of protracted prosecution.
