21-year-old man sentenced to 1 year imprisonment for stealing Blackberry phone

A 21-year-old man, Abdulahi Ismaila, was on Thursday sentenced to one year imprisonment with hard labour by a Yaba Magistrate Court in Lagos, for stealing a Blackberry phone.

The phone the convict was said to have stolen on May 13, 2012, at WAEC bus-stop in Yaba, was valued at N45, 000.

The prosecutor, Inspector Godwin Anyanwu, told the court that the phone was stolen from one Ezemegwalu Christopher, who ran after the convict and apprehended him.

“During the pursuit, the accused passed the phone to his colleagues, and the phone was not found on him,’ he added.

Ismaila pleaded guilty to the offence, but told Magistrate Patrick Adekomaya during trial that it was impossible to produce his accomplice.

In his ruling, Adekomaya gave Ismaila a year sentence with hard labour.

This is a serious case... But I dnt seems to understand how he was charged to court when there is no evidence dat he truly stole it. I mean the fone was not found on him