Man Bagged 42 Months Jail Term For Theft
Forty-three-year-old man, Segun Akinleye has been sentenced to three and half years imprisonment with hard labour by a Magistrate’s Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State for stealing.
He was accused of stealing handsets at the University College Hospital, Ibadan.
With charge no: MI/586c/2017, the convict was arraigned on a two count charge of stealing and unlawfully entering a ward at the hospital.
The prosecutor, Mr. Salewa Hammed told the court that the accused on February, 12th, 2017 at about 8.00pm at UCH , Ibadan stole Galaxy Tab III valued at N65,000 and a blackberry phone valued at N50,000.
Hammed said the stolen phones belonged to one medical practitioner at UCH, Dr. Kalejaye.
The Prosecutor said the accused also did unlawfully entered East 1 ward at the hospital, with the intent to commit felony on the aforementioned date and time adding that the offences contravened sections 390 and 412, Criminal Code Cap 38, Vol. II, Laws of Oyo State of Nigeria 2000.
The accused however pleaded not guilty to count 1 but pleaded guilty to count 2.
He confessed that he did not steal any phone, but that he did entered the premises claiming he only went there to charge his phone.
To press home his charge, the prosecutor called on three witnesses from the emergency department of UCH to testify against the accused person.
The witnesses are: Dr. Kalejaye, Dr. Oluwande Olufajo and Dr. David Kolawole who told the court that before the accused was eventually caught, there had been several cases of stolen phones in the ward with some of the cases reported at the appropriate quarters.
Kolawole confirmed that the accused person was found at the emergency department of the hospital where he claimed to have come to charge his handset
The medical doctor who worked at the East 1 on the day the incident occurred, told the court that he was called to attend to patient who was dying and needed urgent attention and that he left his phone in the doctor’s room which has a mini entrance supposedly to be for doctors only but that within 10 minutes that he went back to the doctors room, he couldn’t find his phone.
In her ruling, the Chief Magistrate, Mrs. Abiola Richard sentenced and convicted the suspect to three years and six month imprisonment with hard labour.
