BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
A Magistrate’s Court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State, has sentenced a 29-year-old man, Kola Rasheed, to seven years imprisonment for stealing 32 sets of burglar proof.
The state Police Command informed the court that Rasheed committed the act on August 18, 2023, at about 6:30am, at Agowande Area, Osogbo.
Police prosecutor, Inspector Adeoye Kayode, said the stolen 32 sets of window burglar proof were valued at N450,000 only, property of one Abdulwaheed Ademola.
The charge read, “That you Kola Rasheed and others at large on 18/8/2023 at about 06:30am, at Agowande Area Osogbo magisterial district, did conspire within yourselves to commit felony to wit stealing and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 516 of Criminal Code Cap 34 Vol. II, Laws of Osun State of Nigeria 2002.
“That you Kola Rasheed and others at large on the same date, time and place in the aforementioned magisterial district did steal 32 sets of windows burglar proof, valued at Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N450,000:00) only, property of one Abdulwaheed Ademola and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 383 and punishable under section 390(9) of the Criminal Code CAP 34 Vol. II Laws of Osun State of Nigeria 2002.”
Rasheed pleaded guilty to the allegations. He, however, confessed that he carried out the crime alone, as against the conspiracy claim of the prosecutor.
Kayode, while presenting the facts of the case, explained that the defendant was carting away the burglar proof when some vigilant residents saw him and confronted him.
The prosecutor informed the court that the defendant was an ex-convict and that the same Magistrate had found him guilty of stealing a goat and killing it to make pepper soup. Kayode revealed that the court had been lenient with Rasheed when it ordered that he be flogged with cane by prison officials and then released before commiting another offence.
When Magistrate A. Adeyeba recalled the face of the defendant and the incident, he pronounced him guilty of stealing the burglar proof and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment without option of fine.
