2 students jailed for stealing I-phone, Blackberry phones

An Abuja Magistrates’ Court in Life-Camp on
Wednesday sentenced Paul Emmanuel and
Mustapha Abubakar to three months in
prison for stealing an I-Phone and
Blackberry cell-phones valued at N265,000.
Emmanuel, 18, and Abubakar, 23, claimed
they are students who reside in Gwarimpa
Estate, Abuja.
The magistrate, Alhaji Abdulateef Abolaji,
sentenced them after they pleaded guilty to
the two counts of joint act and theft.
Abolaji, however, gave them an option to
pay a fine of N3,000 each.
“They confessed to stealing the cell phones
and have not given sufficient cause why
they should not be convicted.
“They have to serve the jail term or pay the
fine to serve as a deterrence to others like
them,’’ he said.
Abolaji warned the convicts to desist from a
life of crime, saying that the court would not
be lenient with them if they appeared again
for any criminal offence.
Earlier, the police prosecutor, Cpl. Friday Idi,
told the court that the convicts stole the cell-
phones, belonging to Alhaji Musa
Abdulrahim of Maitama, Abuja on Aug. 15.
He said that the two convicts pretended to
be assisting Abdulrahim, whose car fell into
a ditch when they stole the phones.
The prosecutor said that the convicts were
arrested by the police and they confessed to
committing the crime upon interrogation.
Idi said that the two phones were later
recovered from them. (NAN)