– Man admits to committing criminal offence in church – Blames his shameful act on unemployment It could be funny, but an Ikeja, Lagos chief magistrates’ court on Friday sent 22-year Innocent Ali to a one-year jail term for stealing a woman’s handbag in the church. The punishment was handed to the unemployed man by Taiwo Akanni, the court’s chief magistrate, without any option of fine. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter File photo of arrested suspect. Akanni said the punishment would serve as a deterrent to others. The accused was arraigned on July 20, 2015 on a one-count charge of stealing, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports, adding that the convict, whose address is unknown, pleaded guilty the day he was arraigned. READ ALSO: Robbers arrested after stealing from church However, he had remained in custody since then. The court said the jail term should include the number of days the convict had spent in custody. Clifford Ogu, the prosecutor in the case, had told the court that the offence was committed on July 5 at Christ Royal Family International Church, located at 2, Adegbola Street, Ikeja. He added that the accused stole a woman’s handbag in the church and ran away. READ ALSO: Three thieves caught, stripped naked (photos) The offence contravened Section 285 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. “The accused was sitting beside a woman, one Ekundayo Oyenuga, in the church, and after the service, the woman left her bag to meet with the pastor, but on her return, the bag had disappeared. “It was the CCTV camera that revealed the accused,” Ogu said claiming further that the police was able arrest the convict through the account number he gave the complainant to pay in N15, 000 before he would release other documents in the bag to her. “The items in the bag are a blackberry phone valued at N45,000, cash of N10,000, a drivers’ license, ATM card, car key, international passport and an Ipad,” Ogu said adding: “when the accused was arrested, he had already spent the money and sold the mobile phone.” Men of State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti-Yaba, Lagos, had two days ago arraigned four security guards who work with the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), before an Ebute-metta Chief Magistrate’s Court, for allegedly stealing seven transformers. The PHCN guard arraigned before the court are: Mohammed Abacha, 36; Friday Amos 36; Peter Oyinbo, 37; and Kayode Gafaru, 29. Arraigned before the court alongside the PHCN guards was 35-year old Sanni Yahaya, who was alleged to have received the stolen transformers. for more information please join us on any of our social media and feel free to write or send us anything on email with albills.com@gmail.com, or chat us up on whatsapp with (+234) 08063465456, for Facebook users join our group with - so you've heard or like our page - billstips
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