An Ota Magistrates’ Court in Ogun on Thursday sentenced a 37-year-old man, Samuel Rasak, to one-year imprisonment for stealing a Mazda E2000 bus valued at N1.3m belonging to one Taiwo Babalashe.
In his ruling, the senior magistrate, Mr G. E. Akan, however, gave the convict the option of paying a N20,000 fine in place of the sentence.
Rasak during the trial was charged with stealing, an offence to which he pleaded guilty.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Sgt. Chudu Gbesi, during trial had told the court that the accused committed the offence on Aug. 31 at about 11.50 p.m., at the Royal Car Wash, Sango-Ota.
Gbesi said that the accused who is a worker at the car-wash, stole a Mazda E2000 with registration number AP 2802 XP belonging to the complainant, Taiwo Babalashe, after washing the bus.
He said that the offence contravened Section 390 (9) of the Criminal Code Vol. 1, Laws of Ogun, 2006.
