A Karmo Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Thursday sentenced a 48-year-old mechanic, Fedelis Osuala, to seven months imprisonment for stealing a car exhaust pot.
Osuala of Jabi village, Abuja, was convicted on a count charge of criminal breach of trust and theft.
The judge, Mr Sadiq Abubakar, however, gave the convict an option to pay N10, 000 fine, saying that the sentence was to serve as a deterrent to others.
He also ordered him to pay N100, 000 as compensation to the nominal complainant.
Earlier the prosecutor, Mr. Dalhatu Zannah, had told the court that one Ann Marjah, of Federal Road Safety Commission Head Quarters, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja, reported the matter at Life Camp Police Station on Jan. 9.
Zannah said that on Jan. 4, the complainant entrusted her car, Edge Jeep 2008 model to Osuala for repair and charged her N12, 000.
He said that after Osuala finished repairing the car, he criminally stole the said car exhaust pot (a.k.a. Indome), valued at N100, 000.
The prosecutor said during police investigation, the convict confessed that he sold the car exhaust pot to an unknown person at N10, 000.
Zannah said that all effort to recover the stolen item proved abortive, while the offence contravened Sections 312 and 288 of the Penal code. (NAN)
