32-year-old mechanic sentenced to 24 months in prison for stealing a tricycle worth N700,000

Today, a Kaduna Upper Sharia Court sentenced a 32-year-old mechanic, Sale Musa, to 24 months in prison for stealing a tricycle worth N700,000.  

Musa, who resides at Katsina Road in Kaduna, was convicted on a two-count charge of joint act and theft, contrary to Sections 79 and 288 of the Penal Code. The convict, who pleaded guilty to the charge, urged the judge to temper justice with mercy.  

In his judgment, the Judge, Abdullahi Jumare, held that the court had taken into account, the fact that the convict was a first time offender. Jumare, however, sentenced the convict to 24 months in prison without an option of fine.  He stated that the punishment would serve as a deterrent to others.  

The judge also ordered the convict to pay the sum of N600, 000 to the complainant, as compensation for the stolen tricycle. Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp. Abubakar Shehu, told the court that the convict committed the offences on December 12, 2018. He said on the same date at about 11:30am, the Complainant, Usman Yusuf, of Kontagora Road Kaduna, carried the convict and another man, now at large, in his tricycle.  

The prosecutor said when the convict and the other man alighted from the tricycle, they hit the complainant on the head with a stick which made him unconscious. Shehu said in the process, the convict stole the complainant’s tricycle valued at N700, 000. He, further, told the court that during police investigation, the tricycle was found in possession of one Gali Musa, who claimed to have bought it from the convict.  

The prosecutor said the convict could not give a satisfactory account of how he got the said tricycle and confessed to committing the crime.