The Lugbe Grade I Area Court in Abuja on Tuesday sentenced Istifanus John, a 32-year-old domestic servant, to seven months imprisonment for stealing his employer’s 60 bags of cement and building blocks.

Mr John pleaded guilty to the offence and begged the court for leniency.

However, the judge, Aliyu Kagarko, gave the convict an option to pay a fine of N70,000.

The prosecution counsel, Olisaemeka Okeke, told the court that the complainant, Moses Nweke, of the same address, reported the matter to the Life Camp police station on March 2.

The prosecutor told the court that the complainant employed the convict as a “block watering worker” in his industry.

Mr Okeke said the complainant entrusted the convict with his shop key, and he stole 60 bags of cement worth N540,000, 200 building blocks worth N90,000 and 15 litres of fuel.

The prosecutor said the convict absconded but was later apprehended.

He said during police interrogation and investigation, the convict confessed to the crime, and all efforts made to recover the stolen items failed.

Mr Okeke told the court that the offence contravened the provisions of Section 289 of the Penal Code. 

(NAN)