A Jos Area Court has sentenced two friends, Michael Auta and Gabriel Sunday, to 12 months in prison each for stealing clothing items worth N488,000.
Presiding over the case on Monday, Judge Shawomi Bokkos convicted the duo after they pleaded guilty to the charges. The court, however, offered each of them an option to pay a N50,000 fine in lieu of serving the full jail term.
In addition to the sentence, the judge ordered both convicts to pay N200,000 each as compensation to the complainant. Failure to do so would attract an extra 12 months behind bars.
Earlier, Police Prosecutor Inspector Daniel Damulak told the court that the theft was reported on April 17 at the ‘B’ Division Police Station by Ms. Gift Ernest, the shop owner.
According to Damulak, the two men unlawfully entered the complainant’s store and made away with clothing items valued at nearly half a million naira. During the course of the investigation, both defendants admitted to committing the crime.
The prosecutor noted that the offense violated the Plateau State Penal Code Law of Northern Nigeria, enacted in 2017.
