BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
A 24-year-old tiling apprentice, Rafiu Shuaibu, has been sentenced to a year imprisonment for breaking into a female hostel and stealing a phone, power bank and earpiece belonging to a student of Fountain University, Osogbo, Osun State.
Shuaibu was said to have scaled through the fence of the female hall of residence at about 5am, on October 1, 2022, torn the net and broken the louver blades of the rooms where he stole the items.
The charge brought against him read that “You, Rafiu Shuaibu, 24, on October 1, 2022, at about 5am at Fountain University, Oke-Osun, Osogbo, did tear the net to the window of a female hostel with intent to commit an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 411 of the Criminal Code, Cap 34, Volume II, Laws of Osun State of Nigeria, 2002.
“You, Rafiu Shuaibu, on the same date, time and place and in the aforementioned Magisterial District, did steal one Techno phone, one earpiece and one iTel power bank, all valued at N120, 000, property of one Auolat Sule and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 390(9) of the Criminal Code, Cap 34, Volume II Laws of Osun State, 2002.”
The accused person, who hails from Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State, claimed that he is a year 2014 graduate of the Federal Government College, Lagos. He pleaded guilty to the allegations and prayed the court for forgiveness.
Presenting the facts of the case, Inspector Olayiwola Rasaq, the police prosecutor, explained to the court that Shuaibu accompanied his master, Kehinde, who was contacted for tiling work within the institution. He allegedly sneaked into the female hostel on two occasions to steal the student’s belongings.
Rasaq said that the defendant scaled the hostel fence and removed the louvers of a room’s window so as to have access to steal one techno phone, one earpiece and one iTel power bank valued at N120, 000 belonging to a student of the campus.
The police prosecutor said that “The victim complained to the school authority and on October 2, the accused person went to that hostel again, as usual, to steal, but this time around, the students saw him and raised the alarm after he had already torn the window net.
“Nurudeen Lasisi, a security man on the campus, and other people, trailed the accused person and arrested him. During interrogation, he confessed to being the one that came on October 1 to steal. All the stolen items, except the earpiece, were recovered from him.
“The Chief Security Officer of the institution, Egbedele A. Apanpa, reported the matter at the Oke Baale Police Division.”
The presiding Magistrate, A. O. Odeleye found the accused person, who stood trial without any legal representation, guilty as charged and thereby convicted him.
The convict was sentenced to six months imprisonment on the first count with an option of N20, 000 fine and the same for the second count.
Odeleye said that the sentence and fine would run concurrently.
The court released the retrieved phone and power bank to the student.
