By Agbafo Ijeoma
An Upper Area Court sitting in Pankshin, Plateau State, has sentenced a 47-year-old man, Muridang John, to three years in a correctional centre for stealing a motorcycle. The court also ordered him to pay N300,000 compensation to the complainant.
The presiding judge, Mr Augustine Dung, sentenced John after he pleaded guilty to charges of criminal breach of trust and theft, contrary to Sections 297 and 272 of the Plateau Penal Code Law, 2017. The convict, who resides in Sarkin Kudu, Taraba State, had appealed for leniency, citing ill health.
The prosecution counsel, Cpl. Reuben Kopwul, told the court that the complainant, Mr Kefas David, reported the matter at the Pankshin Police Division on Sept. 4. He said John had called David to pick him up on his red Boxer motorcycle from the Federal University of Education, Pankshin, to the General Hospital.
Kopwul said John allegedly took advantage of David’s trust, collected the motorcycle and fled to an unknown destination. He added that during police investigation, the defendant disclosed that he had taken the motorcycle and handed it to one Badamasi Ibrahim, who was reportedly at large, to sell.
Following John’s guilty plea, the prosecutor urged the court to sentence him in accordance with the law. Dung subsequently sentenced him to three years in a correctional centre with an option of N200,000 fine and ordered him to pay an additional N300,000 compensation to David.
