29th August, 2012
For stealing a Blackberry phone, a Laptop, some Nokia phones and cash of about N25,000, an Ikorodu magistrates’ court has sentenced a young man, Steven John, to a three-month jail term on a two-count charge of felony to wit stealing and stealing.
The said criminal offences which, according to the prosecuting council, are punishable under sections 409 and 285 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria 2011, were committed on Sunday, 19 August, 2012 at about 2:55p.m along Eyita road in Ikorodu.
The accused pleaded ‘Guilty’ to the first charge but pleaded ‘Not Guilty’ to the second charge as he claimed that “the Police have recovered the stolen items.”
The prosecuting officer, Abdulsalam Abibat, however, refuted the claims, stating that “the stolen items must have been taken away by others who are at large now because they carried out their operation with the use of a motorcycle.”
PMNEWS gathered that Steven and others, at large, would have gone without anyone of them being caught but for the timely intervention of the complainant’s wife, who cornered him and brought him down from the motorcycle.
According to the complainant, Urantha Michael, who spoke with PMNEWS, “What happened was just like a joke because it came suddenly and everything was almost over before I knew it but for my wife’s timely intervention. She was the one who brought down one of the thieves from the motorcycle and that was how we caught him and took him to the police station.”
The presiding Magistrate praised the effort of the complainant’s wife, labelling it a “brave effort” and then asked Steven to make a request to the court before giving his judgement. Expectedly, the young man asked to be pardoned and a little drama ensued.
The Magistrate asked him if he was a Nigerian and he answered in the affirmative, then he was asked to sing the National Anthem but he couldn’t. The disappointed Magistrate subsequently asked him to spend the next three months in prison to learn more about life.
—Damilare Okunola