An Ikeja Magistrates Court recently entertained the case of a jobless man who made away with a ram worth N65,000.
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An unemployed man, Osita Nwatun, on Wednesday told an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court in Lagos that he was guilty of stealing a ram valued at N65,000.
“I am guilty as charged,” Nwatun told the court, but pleaded for leniency and blamed the devil for his action.
The accused, who is facing one count of theft, will know his fate on September 8 when the court will deliver judgement in the case. The magistrate, Mr. J. I. Adigun, ordered the accused to be remanded in Kirikiri Prisons.
The prosecutor, Sgt. Godwin Awase, had told the court that the accused committed the offence on September 4, at No. 616, Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Ojokoro, Lagos.
Awase said the accused stole a ram valued N65,000 belonging to the complainant, Aruna Bameyi. He said the accused, who was sleeping in the ram market, stole the complainant’s ram at midnight.
“The complainant discovered the following morning that one of his rams was missing; he quickly called ram sellers across Lagos and Ogun to inform them that one of his rams had been stolen.
“Luckily for him, ram sellers from Owode in Ogun called him a few minutes after that they saw a man who came with a ram on a motorcycle looking for buyer.
“The complainant told them the mark that was placed on the ram and the people truly saw the number on the ram and the accused was handed over to the police,” he said.
Awase said the offence contravened Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the section prescribes three-year jail term as penalty for stealing.