The Lugbe Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Tuesday sentenced a 22-year-old labourer, Emmanuel Paul, to eight months in prison for stealing phones.

Mr Paul, who resides in Kaduna State, had pleaded guilty to a count charge of theft.

He also pleaded for leniency.

The judge, Aliyu Kagarko, gave him an option of a N30,000 fine and warned him to desist from crime.

The judge said the punishment would have been stiffer if Mr Paul had not spared the court the rigour of a protracted trial.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Stanley Nwaforaku, told the court that Sgt. Joshua Simon of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), Asokoro, Abuja, arrested and brought Mr Paul to the Asokoro Police Station on December 1 via a transfer letter.

Mr Nwaforaku said that while Mr Paul was working at a DIA construction site, he stole two phones (Gionee and Tecno).

The prosecutor submitted that the phones belonged to Mr Paul’s co-workers, Felix Bishop and Ifeanyi Moses.

He said during the police investigation, Mr Paul made a confessional statement, and the phones were recovered from him.

Mr Nwaforaku said stealing contravened Section 287 of the Penal Code.

(NAN)