An Abeokuta Magistrate’s Court in Ogun State has sentenced a 31-year-old man, Rotimi Adekunle to 30 months imprisonment for stealing a phone.
Adekunle resides at number 35 Olomore Housing Estate, Abeokuta.
He was arraigned on March 31, 2016, on a two-count charge of stealing and unlawful possession of a Samsung Galaxy phone he could not account for and had been on awaiting trial since then.
The police prosecutor, Inspector Olakunle Shonibare, said the accused committed the offence on March 29, 2016, at about 9:30 am, at Camp Junction in Abeokuta.
He added that Adekunle removed a Samsung Galaxy phone, valued at N22,400, from the bag of one Miss Balogun Lateefat, while she was standing at the bus stop.
According to him, the accused was sighted during the act by one Shakiru, a member of the Road Transport Employer Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, who was on duty at the junction.
He said during the time of his arrest, other phones and the Samsung phone were found on him.
The prosecutor further alleged that the convict had been stealing phones at the same junction.
He said, “On March 30, 2016, the accused was sentenced to two years imprisonment with an option N20,000.
“The next day, being March 31, 2016, the accused was again arraigned over Balogun lateefat’s phone.”
Shonibare pointed out that the offence contravened Sections 383, 390 and 436 of the Criminal Code, Vol. 1, Laws of Ogun, 2006.
However, the presiding Magistrate, Idowu Olayinka, in his ruling, said that the accused was an ex-convict arraigned over the same offence of stealing.
“With the evidence tendered in court, the prosecution has proved its case and the accused had been found guilty of the charges against him.”
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