Magistrate Laments High Rate Of Theft Among Youths

                           
                           

Magistrate Anne Akobi of the Senior Magistrates’ Court in Karu on Thursday lamented the high rate of theft among youths and blamed it on their non-participation in agriculture.

Akobi made the lamentation while adjudicating in the case of 21-year-old Patrick Johnson of Phase 4, Nyanya, Abuja, who pleaded guilty to the offences of house breaking and theft.

The magistrate sentenced the accused to one year imprisonment without option of fine and ordered him to pay  N7,000 as compensation to the complainant.

“Hunger is not an excuse for stealing. Do you mean that whenever anyone is hungry he or she should just break into another person’s house and steal?.

“Some of you youths of nowadays don’t want to work hard, you don’t want to engage in agriculture, you are always looking for easy and fast way of making money,’’ Akobi said.

Earlier, the Prosecutor, Silas Nanpan, told the court that one Joy Chindo, also of Nyanya, reported the accused to the Nyanya Police Station on Sept. 22.

Nanpan said the complainant reported that she left her house for work on the same date but returned to find it burgled.

He said: “ Upon Police investigations, it was discovered that you (the accused), a neighbour of the complainant, cut the padlock leading to her flat.

“You went inside her house and stole a Nokia phone, valued at N6,000, beverages valued at N3,000 and N4, 000.’’

The prosecutor added that it was only the Nokia phone that was recovered from the accused during the police investigation as he confessed to have spent the money and consumed the food items.

He also told the court that offences of house breaking and theft were punishable under Sections 347 and 288 of the penal code. (NAN)