A young teenage boy who was on Thursday, sentenced to prison for stealing by a court sitting in Minna, the Niger state capital, has revealed what drove him to crime.
A 19-year-old labourer, Umar Aliyu, on Thursday told a Minna Magistrate’s Court that “extreme hunger” forced him to steal a tecno phone valued at N27,000.
Aliyu, who was arraigned on a one-count charge of theft, said he stole the phone with an intention to sell it and buy food.
He begged the court for leniency, saying that he had learnt his lesson.
The magistrate, Mariam Kings, after listening to Aliyu’s plea, sentenced him to one month imprisonment with a fine option of N10,000.
Earlier, the Police Prosecutor, Mr Moses Emberga, had told the court that one Dahiru Rabiu of Chachanga village, reported the matter at the Minna Police Station on March 22.
Emberga quoted the complainant as saying that he was eating lunch on the said date when the accused person stole the phone.
According to Emberga, the accused person confessed to stealing the phone which he (accused), claimed to have handed over to one Musa, for safe keeping.
The prosecutor said that the offence was contrary to section 287 of the penal code law, and prayed the court to try Aliyu summarily in line with section 157 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
(NAN)
