Amagistrate court sitting in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, has sentenced a 15-year-old boy, Chimezie Igwe, to one-month jail for stealing fowls.
Chimezie and his other friends, now at large, were said to have conspired and stolen 24 broiler fowls from a poultry farm on December 20, 2018 at Mgbabor Echara village in Ebonyi Local Government council of Ebonyi State.
The suspect, who claimed to be an orphan and lives in the village with his aged and poor grand mother, allegedly stole 24 fowls, worth N40,800, from the farm belonging to one Mr. Francis Asogwa to enable him buy clothes and food for the yuletide.
Our correspondent in Abakaliki gathered that the suspect, while being tried in the Magistrate’s chamber because of his tender age, pleaded guilty as charged with an excuse that he intended to use proceeds from sales of the fowls for his family’s
welfare.
He thereby committed offences punishable under Sections 516A(a) and 390(a) both of criminal code cap 33 vol 1 laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria 2009.
Consequently, the trial Magistrate, Ruth Okeh, sentenced the suspect to one month stay at the Ebonyi State Juvenile detention home in Ugwuachara.
