An Upper Area Court in Gwagwalada, Abuja, on Monday sentenced a 26-year-old farmer, Sadiq Ismaila, to nine months imprisonment for stealing a cell phone.
The convict, a resident of Shaku village Lambata, Niger, was charged with theft.
Delivering judgment, Justice Sani Umar, sentenced the convict after he pleaded guilty to the offence and begged for mercy.
Umar, however, gave the convict an option to pay a fine of N40,000 or be ready to serve nine months imprisonment.
The presiding officer said that he decided to be lenient with the convict because he was a first time offender who had become remorseful.
He further ordered the convict to pay compensation of N53,000 to the complainant, Ahmed Mohammed.
Earlier, the Prosecuting counsel, Mr Abdullahi Tanko, told the court that the complainant, Mohammed, of Angwan dodo Gwagwalada, Abuja, had reported the matter at Gwagwalada Police Station on March 28.
He alleged that sometime in February 2022, the defendant came to Gwagwalada to steal the complainant’s Infinix cell phone valued at N53,000.
He alleged that the defendant had sold the stolen item to an unknown person at the rate of N23,000 and converted the money to his own personal use.
Tanko further said the defendant, on March 28, attempted to repeat the same act at the market on another unsuspecting victim, Mohammed Yakubu, but was caught and handed over to the police.
He said the offence contravened the provisions of Section 287 of the Penal Code.
