Court Sentences 2 Students To 3 Months 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 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)