On Thursday, the Abeokuta Magistrates’ Court sentenced Mohammed Usman, 24, to one year in prison for stealing burglarproof bars valued at N150,000.

The defendant pleaded guilty to the one-count charge of unlawful entry and stealing.

The magistrate, V.B Williams-Oyetunji, convicted the defendant after he pleaded guilty to the charge levelled against him.

She sentenced Mr Usman to one-year imprisonment or an option of three weeks of community service.

Earlier, the prosecution counsel, Lawrence Olu-Balogun, told the court that the defendant committed the offences on March 7 at about 3:00 p.m. in the Bajemo area off Ayetoro Road in Abeokuta.

mR Olu-Balogun said the defendant entered Adekanbi Ademola’s building and removed one of his burglarproof bars.

The prosecutor further told the court that the defendant claimed to be a scavenger.

The convict said he was caught by a neighbour who saw him from afar when removing the burglarproof bars.

The neighbour immediately called the attention of the community chairman, who later accosted him and queried how he got the burglarproof bar, which he could not explain.

He was later handed over to the police for further interrogation.

(NAN)