A Grade 1 Area Court in Aso Pada, FCT has sentenced a driver, Abdullahi Umar, 20, of Nyanya, Abuja to 30 months in prison for stealing valuable parts from a transformer at Aso.
The Presiding Judge, Mr. Albert Maga, said that Umar was guilty of the offence of theft but discharged him on the charge of criminal conspiracy.
Maga, however, gave the convict an option to pay fine of N6,000, but ordered him to pay N10,000 compensation to the transmission company for loss of revenue during the period the transformer was vandalised.
Earlier, one Yakubu Ussaini, 27, a welder, who appeared as prosecution witness told the court that thieves were giving the residents of his community sleepless night.
Ussaini, who resides near Aso Secondary School in Aso Pada, said that, on Feb. 28, at about 2.26 am, a suspicious noise woke him up from sleep and he went to where the noise is coming from.
According to him, “I saw the convict in the transformer; he has already cut the GP, so I told him to come out, but he jumped over the fence housing the transformer and took off.
“Some people from a church having night vigil assisted me in pursuing him and we caught him inside the Secondary School and Umar was later picked up by the police.”
Umar was first arraigned on February 28, 2014, on a two-count charge of criminal conspiracy and theft.
The Prosecutor, Mr. Friday Adaji, told the court that Ussaini lodged a complaint against Umar on February 28 at the ‘A’ Division police station, Mararaba.
Adaji said the accused and three others, now at large, conspired and stole valuable parts of a transformer near Aso Pada Secondary School, adding that after the act, they also break into a tailor’s shop and stole clothes valued N60,000.
The accused pleaded guilty to the charge.
