A 23-year-old ex-convict, Abubakar Bello, momentarily escaped from the Mapo Chief Magistrate’s Court in Ibadan, yesterday, while awaiting another sentencing.
This was when the magistrate, Mrs O.O. Latunji, stepped briefly into her chamber to write her judgment.
It took the efforts of some police officers and a soldier (name withheld), who threatened to shoot the convict if he refused to stop before he was rearrested.
Upon his rearrest, the magistrate sentenced Bello to three years imprisonment on each of the two offences he was convicted for, with no option of paying a fine.
The magistrate however said the jail terms were to run concurrently.
Latunji said she convicted and sentenced Bello based on the overwhelming evidence tendered against him by the police as well as his confessional statement.
According to the magistrate, she took note of the fact that pleading guilty to an offence should be accorded a reduced sentence.
“However, to serve as a deterrent to others, you are hereby sentenced to three years imprisonment for each of the two offences.
“The sentence has no option of fine and shall run concurrently,” Latunji said.
The police prosecutor, Insp. Oluseye Akinola, had earlier told the court that the convict was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy and stealing.
Akinola said the convict stole electrical cables worth N3.5 million from a filling station at Odo-Ona Kekere in Ibadan on Oct. 28.
The prosecution said one Mayowa Balogun, the Manager of Olabanji Oil and Gas Station at Odo-Ona Kekere, reported the stealing at Mapo Police Station, after which the police swung into action.
According to Akinola, the convict, who had just returned from a jail term, was apprehended by the filling station’s security guard at about 4 a.m. after cutting electrical installations.
“Other members of his gang are now at large,” he said.
The prosecutor said it was not the first time the convict would be leading his gang to steal from the filling station.
He said the offences contravened Sections 516 and 390 (9) of the Criminal Code Cap 38 Vol. II Laws of Oyo State 2000.