2 friends jailed 3 months each for stealing roofing sheets, chickens

An Area Court in Jos, on Monday, sentenced two friends, Christopher John, 22, and Bitrus Timothy, 20, to three months imprisonment each for stealing 11 units of roofing sheets and two chickens.

The judge, Shawomi Bokkos, sentenced the convicts after they pleaded guilty to the two counts of trespass and theft and pleaded for leniency.

The judge, however, gave each of the convicts an option of N10,000 fine or three months imprisonment each.

He also ordered the convicts to pay N50,000 each as compensation to the complainant.

Earlier, the police prosecutor, Insp Monday Dabit, told the court that the case was reported at the A Division of the Police on April 6, by Emmanuel Oseseamhe.

Dabit informed the court that the complainant reported that the accused persons on the fateful date trespassed into his compound by jumping over the fence and stole 11 pieces of step tile roofing sheets and two chickens all valued at N 100,000.

The prosecutor further told the court that during police investigation the convicts confessed to commission of the offences.

The offences, he said, contravened the Plateau State Penal Code Law of Northern Nigeria.