Labourer jailed 5 months for stealing streetlights cable

A Dei-Dei Grade I Area Court in Abuja on Friday sentenced a 37-year-old labourer, Aminu Shuaibu, to five months imprisonment for stealing streetlights cable.

The court sentenced Shuaibu, who resides in Gauraka area of Niger State, after he pleaded guilty to a count charge of theft preferred against him.

The judge, Aliyu Kagarko, however, gave the convict an option of N20,000 fine.

The judge warned the convict to be of good behaviour and desist from committing crime after serving his jail term.

He said the punishment would have been stiffer if the convict had not saved the court the rigour of a protracted prosecution.

Earlier, the prosecution counsel, Stanley Nwaforaku, told the court that the complainant, Ibrahim Lawal of Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) Gosa Toge Airport road, Abuja reported the matter at the Iddo Police Station on Dec. 9.

Nwaforaku said on the same date about 4:20 am, the convict criminally stole some streetlight cable but the complainant caught him while on duty at Gosa Toge.

The prosecutor stated that during police interrogation and investigation, the convict confessed to the crime, adding that the offence contravened Section 288 of the Penal Code.