Painter, 20, bags two months in correctional facility for intimidation, theft

A Dutse Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Thursday sentenced Frederick Emmanuel, a 20-year-old painter, to two months in a correctional facility for intimidation and theft.

The Presiding Judge, Hassan Aliyu, who convicted the accused, however, gave him an option of N30,000 fine.

He also ordered him to pay the complainant N55,000 within two months or face a more stringent punishment.

Aliyu held that the convict failed to give the court a reasonable explanation for committing the crime.

Emmanuel, a resident of Kogo II, Bwari, was convicted of criminal intimidation and theft.

He pleaded guilty to the charges.

Earlier, the prosecutor,  Idowu Ojo, told the court that John Kingsley, reported the matter in Bwari Police Station on July 14.

According to her, the convict had on same date, alongside his partner, Aboy, attacked the complainant.

Aboy, whose surname has yet to be ascertained, is presently at large.

The prosecutor told the court that the convict, along with his accomplice, collected the complainant’s phone, valued at N55,000, saying that they wanted to sell it and get money to bury one of their dead cult members.

Ojo told the court that during police investigation, the convict had confessed that he and his partner belonged to a cult group called ‘Arobagger’.

She also said that the convict claimed that when they collected the phone, Aboy ran away with it to an unknown area in Kano.

She noted that the acts, contravened Sections 79, 97b, 397 and 287 of the penal code.