A Karmo Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Thursday sentenced a 35-year-old man, Daniel Bidem, to three months imprisonment for stealing his girlfriend’s cell phone valued at N47, 000.
Bidem of Garki II, Abuja, was arraigned on a one-count charge of stealing.
The convict was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to the offence and begged for leniency.
The Judge, Mr Abubakar Sadiq, however, gave him an option of N20,000 fine.
Sadiq ordered Bidem to pay N40,000 as compensation to the complainant and warned him to desist from committing crime.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, Mr. Dalhatu Zannah, had told the court that one Mibiola Olajumoke of No 13, Matadi Street, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja, reported the matter at Utako Police Station on Feb. 19.
Zannah told the court that On Feb. 16 at about 2:30 p.m, Bidem, who was a boyfriend to the complainant, took her to a hotel at Wuse II to buy her food.
“Bidem dishonestly and smartly stole the complainant’s Techno CX phone worth N47, 000,’’ the prosecutor said.
He said that the convict sold the phone to an unknown person in Wuse market at the rate of N10, 000.
The prosecutor told the court that all effort to recover the stolen cell phone proved abortive.
He said that during police investigation, Bidem confessed to have sold the phone for N10, 000.
According to Zannah, the offence contravened Section 288 of the Penal Code. (NAN)