A Zuba Upper Area Court, Abuja, on Thursday sentenced a painter, Daniel Enefola, to 12 months’ imprisonment for stealing a police officer’s cell phone.

Thirty-seven-year-old Enefola, who resides at  Kurunduma 2 Asokoro Extention, Abuja, had pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing, and begged the court for leniency.

The Judge, Gambo Garba, however, gave the convict an option to pay a fine of N50,000 and charged him to desist from crime.

Prosecution counsel, Chinedu Ogada, had told the court that CSP Willington Omoro of  the Zuba Police Station, Abuja, reported the case on March 11.

Ogada said that the convict went into the complainant’s office and  stole his Samsung Galaxy phone worth N125,000.

He added that the convict  deceptively called the complainant’s close contacts with the phone, claiming that he (the complaint)  was sick and needed financial assistance.

The prosecutor told the court that the convict collected N351,000 from the contacts.

He said the police caught and arrested the convict in a bank as he was about to withdraw money sent to him by some of the contacts.

Ogada said that during a police investigation, the phone was recoverd from the convict, adding that the convict made a confessional statement.

The prosecutor noted that the stealing  contravened Sections 288 of the Penal Code.