An Enugu Magistrates’ Court on Monday sentenced one Friday Eze, 24, of Enugu North Local Government Area to three months imprisonment for stealing an MTN generator battery.
In her judgment, the Presiding Magistrate, Mrs Ifeoma Oruruo, said the convict understood the charge read to him and pleaded guilty to the one count charge brought against him.
Oruruo said that the confession made by the convict at the Central Police Station, Enugu, confirmed that he committed the offence as he equally pleaded for leniency.
According to her, the offence ordinarily attracts 14 years imprisonment “but because you pleaded guilty and asked for leniency, there must be a balanced justice while condemning the act”.
The magistrate, therefore, sentenced the accused to three months imprisonment with an option to pay the sum of N30, 000.
The police prosecutor, ASP Kwe-Kwe Ajor, had earlier told the court that the matter was reported to the Central Police Station on July 27, 2014 by an official of the MTN, Kingsley Okafor.
Ajor said that the convict broke into the MTN mast at Udi, near Enugu, and stole the generator battery at about three a.m.in the morning of the fateful day.
He said that when the convict was arrested, he pleaded with the police, saying that it was first time of stealing. (NAN)
