A Dei-Dei Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Thursday, sentenced a 29-year-old farmer, Jacob Agba, to nine months in a correctional centre for absconding with his customer’s motorcycle.
The Judge, Malam Saminu Suleiman, sentenced the suspect after he pleaded guilty to the offence and prayed the court for mercy.
Suleiman, however, gave Agba an option of N30,000 fine and warned him to desist from committing crimes in future.
He also ordered the convict to pay the complainant the sum of N130,000 as compensation.
The judge said the punishment would have been stiffer if the convict had not saved the court from the rigours of prosecution.
The Prosecution Counsel, Chinedu Ogada, had earlier informed the court that the complainant, Hawa Solomon, reported the matter at Dutse Alhaji Police Station on Jan. 3.
Ogada said sometime in July 2022, the convict criminally took the complainant’s sister, known as Kwasi, to Jabu village, Abuja, under the pretence of buying a Bajaj motorcycle, valued at N130,000.
He told the court that the motorcycle was released to the convict to test ride, adding, however, that he dishonestly disappeared with the said motorcycle to an unknown destination and left Kwasi with his customer.
Ogada said Kwasi was apprehended and taken for investigation, where the complainant stood surety for her and equally paid N130,000, the value of the motorcycle, adding that the convict was later caught at Kaduna road and handed over to the police for investigation.
The prosecutor said during police interrogation and investigation, the convict confessed to the crime.
He said that the investigation revealed that the convict took the motorcycle to Kaduna Road where he used it for commercial purposes before it was later stolen.
Ogada said all efforts to recover the stolen motorcycle had failed.
He said the offence contravened Sections 312 and 322 of the Penal Code.
