how can a court jail someone for 50 years for stealing a mobile phone

http://dailyguideghana.com/newd/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7320&Itemid=245


A 24-year-old Nigerian who robbed a man of his mobile phones at knife point as the victim attended to nature’s call at the beach was on Monday jailed 50 years in hard labour by an Aflao Circuit Court.

Emmanuel Okey, a barber, pleaded not guilty to robbery, but the court found him guilty.

His two accomplices, names not available, managed to escape arrest and are still at large.

The presiding judge, Francis Obiri, in his judgment said the likes of Okey are dangerous elements whose activities often leave many as orphans and widows, destroying happiness in many homes and therefore required a punishment that would serve as a deterrent.

Police Chief Inspector Josephine Azukah told the court that at about 22:00 hours on December 12, 2010, the complainant, Wisdom Fofo, an electrician, in the company of his wife, visited the beach at Aflao to attend to nature’s call following the closure of public places of convenience in his area.

She said Okey, also resident at Aflao, and two others appeared wielding a knife and ordered the complainant to surrender all valuables on him to them. They then stripped the complainant of his clothing which contained two mobile phones valued at about GH¢500.

She said the complainant’s wife raised the alarm and residents nearby pursued the robbers leading to Okey’s arrest and the retrieval of the complainant’s clothing and one of the phones from him, but the other two escaped arrest.

In his defense, the convict told the court that he was also at the beach attending to nature’s call when the complainant, due to a long standing grudge between them, engaged him in a fight. He said he took to his heels as the complainant pulled out a knife to stab him.

The African unwritten rule of law in action.For those who don't know, it goes thus :

KILL THE SMALL THIEF AND CROWN THE BIG THIEF AS KING! ! !

Nuff said.