A trader, Uba Mohammed, has been sentenced to one-year imprisonment by a Karu Upper Area Court in Abuja for stealing a patient’s cell phone at the Asokoro Hospital.
Delivering his judgement, Ishaq Hassan did not give the convict the option of a fine but rather warned him to desist from committing crime.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the 62-year-old trader pleaded guilty to criminal trespass and theft and belonging to a gang of thieves.
The prosecution counsel, Olanrewaju Osho, told the court that the complainant, a security officer at the Asokoro District Hospital reported the matter at the Asokoro Police Station on March 15.
He said Mohammed was caught with a Tecno cell phone belonging to a patient who was on admission at the Asokoro hospital.
During the police investigation, he said the convict confessed to the crime.
The counsel added that further investigations revealed that the convict is suspected to belong to a gang of thieves that specialise in stealing patients’ phones and withdrawing money from their accounts.
The offence, he said, contravened the provisions of Sections 348, 287 and 306 of the Penal Code