Mason bags 12 months imprisonment for stealing wire cable worth N2.5m

A Grade 1 Area Court Karmo, Abuja, on Tuesday sentenced a mason Aliyu Abdulrahaman, to 12 months imprisonment for stealing wire cable worth N2.5 million.

Abdulrahaman, 35, who resides at Kaduna road, Suleja, Niger State, was arraigned on one count charge of theft.

The presiding Alhaji Abubakar judge, Sadiq, however, gave the convict an option to pay N20, 000 fine.

He also ordered Abdulrahaman to pay N2. 5 million to the complainant as compensation or return the wire.

Sadiq said the convict must return the wire or pay the N2.5 million to serve as deterrent to other would-beoffenders and warned him to desist from committing crime.

Before the judgment was delivered, Abdulrahaman, who had pleaded guilty to the charge, prayed the court to temper justice with mercy, saying he needed money urgently.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Florence Auhioboh, told the court that one Gabriel Zango, of Mazado Plaza Utako, Abuja, reported the matter at Gwarimpa Police station, Abuja on July 26.

Auhioboh, said on that day, the convict went to the complainant site at Katampe extension Gwarimpa and stole the cable wire valued N 2.5 million.

He said that during police investigation, the convict confessed to the crime.

The prosecutor said the offence is punishable under section 287 of the penal code.

(NAN)