A Grade I Area Court, Dei-Dei, Shagari quarters, Abuja, on Monday sentenced a 21-year-old carpenter, Surajo Sherif, to eight months imprisonment for stealing a cell phone.
Sheriff pleaded guilty to theft and begged for leniency.
The Judge, Sulyman Ola, however, gave the convict an option to pay a fine of N30,000 and warned him to desist from committing any form of crime in the future.
Earlier, the Prosecution Counsel, Chinedu Ogada, told the court that the complainant, Abel Onuche, ‘M’ of Zuma 2 Bwari, Abuja reported the matter at Dutse Alhaji Police on Jan. 31
Ogada said that on the same date at about 6:29 pm while the complainant was walking along first gate by Dutse market, suddenly, the convict criminally stole his cell phone.
He said the convict smartly removed the complainant Tecno Pop IV cell phone valued at N 40,000 from his pocket but was caught immediately in the act and handed over to the police.
He stated that during police interrogation and investigation, the convict confessed to the crime and the phone was recovered from him.
The prosecutor said the offence contravened section 288 of the Penal Code.
