Scavenger Jailed Over Burglary, Theft In Abuja

A Dei-Dei Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Tuesday, sentenced a 23-year-old scavenger, Sulieman Aliyu to six months in prison for breaking into a public toilet and stealing a generator.

Aliyu of Madalla junction, Niger State, pleaded guilty to housebreaking and theft and begged for leniency.

The Judge, Saminu Suleiman, however, gave the convict an option to pay a fine of N10,000 and warned him to desist from committing crimes in the future.

Earlier, the prosecution counsel, Chinedu Ogada, told the court that the convict was arrested by the civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) patrol team, led by Haruna Ibrahim, along the fruit market in Zuba.

Ogada said the patrol team arrested and brought the convict to Zuba Police Station on April 9 at about 1:45 am.

He said the convict criminally broke into a public toilet in the Zuba fruit market and dishonestly stole their generator.

The prosecutor told the court that while trying to escape, the JTF patrol team caught the convict and handed him over to the police for investigation.

He stated that during police interrogation and investigation, the convict confessed to the crime while the generator was recovered.

The prosecutor said the offence contravened sections 353 and 288 of the Penal Code. (NAN)