A Lugbe Grade I Area Court in Abuja on Monday sentenced a 30-year-old labourer, Samson Ibrahim, to 17 months imprisonment for stealing meat and tomatoes.
Ibrahim of Perfect Combination Garden Abuja had pleaded guilty to a two-count charge of joint act and theft.
The convict had begged the court for leniency.
The judge, Aliyu Kagarko, gave the convict the option of a N50,000 fine, NAN reports.
The judge warned the convict to be a good citizen and of good behaviour and desist from committing crimes after serving his jail term.
He said the punishment would have been stiffer if the convict had not saved the court from the rigours of protracted prosecution.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Mr Olisaemeka Okeke, told the court that the complainant, Amilsa Rabiat, of the same address, reported the matter at the Life Police station on January 9.
Okeke said that on January 8 at about 11:30p.m, the convict and one Silas Garba, at large, were caught by a vigilante group in Life Camp.
He said the convict went to Perfect Combination Garden and stole a bag full of meat, tomatoes worth N200,000 and a gas cylinder belonging to the complainant’s neighbour.
The prosecutor said that during police investigation, the convict confessed to the crime.
Okeke said police investigation revealed that on November 15, 2023 the convict and Garba trespassed into the complainant’s garden and dishonestly made away with a 40-inch television valued at N80,000 and one speaker valued at N130,000.
He told the court that the convict also confessed to having stolen 21 crates of beer and bottle water valued at N230,000 from the complainant’s shop.
The prosecutor added that the offence contravened Sections 97 and 287 of the Penal Code.
