A Magistrates’ Court in Ikeja, on Wednesday, sentenced two men, Elijah Ogunyemi and Wasiu Saliu to 5years imprisonment for stealing a man’s phone worth N150, 000.
Mrs O. Sule Amzat, court magistrate who handed down the final decision, said the sentence should serve as a warning to others.
However she admonished 22years old Ogunyemi, and Saliu, 20, who lives in Oremeta Street in Ojodu Berger, on the outskirts of Lagos, to desist from committing crime.
The offenders pleaded guilty to the two charges levelled against them at the court of law
NAN reports that the convicts asked the court to temper justice with mercy, saying they committed the crime because of the state of economy, which causes lack of jobs and poverty.
Police Insp. Benson Emuerhi the persecutor had told the court that the complainant, Benson Eniber, was robbed of his Infinix phone valued at N150, 000 on April 11 at Ketu, Lagos.
He said the accused are “professional pickpockets”, adding that,
“The accused attacked the complainant and robbed him of the phone and as a result, a mob wanted to set them ablaze before the police came and arrested them.“The men admitted during interrogation that they have been picking pockets of people for over two years.”
Emuerhi said the phone and a cutlass were recovered from them by the police.
The offences contravened Sections 287 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised)
Let him that steal, steal no more because of the day of Judgement when what you steal begin to hunt you… .Good morning to you.
