13th September, 2019
A Magistrates’ Court in Yaba, Lagos on Friday sentenced a 20-year-old ex-convict, Moses Olaoye, to six months in prison for stealing a Techno phone valued at N48,000.
The convict, who is a cobbler and resides in the Bariga area of Lagos, was convicted after he pleaded guilty to a count charge of stealing.
Magistrate E.N. Ojuromi who sentenced Olaoye did not give him an option to pay a fine.
At the sentencing, he begged the court to temper justice with mercy, saying that he was aware of his wrongdoings and had learnt his lesson from the last incarceration.
”It hunger that pushed me back to stealing and nobody has agreed to employ me because of my conviction record,” he pleaded.
Earlier, the police prosecutor, Sgt. Godwin Oriabure told the court that the convict committed the offence at 8.30a.m. on Sept. 5, at Okuta roundabout, bariga, Lagos. He said that Olaoye stole a Techno L9 plus mobile phone valued at N48,000 from one Mr Afolabi Musa.
Oriabure said that the convict who was a former secondary school classmate of the complainant stole the phone from his pocket. He added that the offence contravened the provisions of Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised).