Two teenagers sentenced to prison for stealing police officer’s phone

Justice Aliyu Kagarko of the Lugbe Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, has sentenced two young boys Abdulrahman Abubakar and Yunusa Umar, to nine months imprisonment each for stealing a police officer’s cell phone.

The 18-year-old residents if AYA, Abuja who work as labourers were arraigned on a two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing and begged for leniency. The convicts pleaded guilty to the charges.

The Prosecution counsel, Mr Stanley Nwaforaku, told the court that the complainant, Sgt. Sidi Ibrahim, arrested the teenagers and took them to the Asokoro Police Station on December 28, 2023.

Nwaforaku said that, on the same date, at 7:30 pm, the teenagers and one other person at large stole the phone.

The prosecutor said that during police interrogation, the teenagers could not give a satisfactory account of themselves. He said that the offences contravened sections 79 and 287 of the Penal Code.

Delivering judgment on Thursday, January 4, 2023, the judge, found the duo guilty of theft and consequently sent them to jail.

Kagarko, however, gave Abubakar and Umar the option of a N30,000 fine and warned them to desist from crime. He also ordered the teenagers to pay N 7,000 as compensation to the owner of the phone.