A Dei-Dei Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Thursday sentenced a 22-year-old panel beater, Dauda Hashimu, to nine months imprisonment for stealing two phones worth N10,000
Hashimu, a resident of Zone 7, Dawaki Abuja, had pleaded guilty to theft, and begged for leniency.
The Judge, Mr Sulyman Ola, however, gave the convict an option of N30,000 fine with a warning to desist from crime.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Mr Chinedu Ogada, told the court that, on July 14, the complainant, Mr Murtala Mohammed of the same address, reported the matter at the Dawaki Police Station.
Ogada said that the convict stole the complainant’s two cell phones worth N5,000 each, and absconded.
The prosecutor said that the convict was, however, tracked and arrested.
He told the court that the convict used the stolen phones to call the complainant’s contacts and told them to tell him to pay a ransom before collecting back his phones.
The prosecutor said that the convict later sold the phones, adding that he confessed to the crime during police investigation.
He said that all efforts to recover the phones from him proved abortive.
The prosecutor said that the offence contravened Section 287 of the Penal Code.