₦airaland Forum

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Man, named Muh'd Abdul, age 24 from Gusau, Zamfara state, was today sentenced to 2months imprisonment for stealing 2 tubers of yam from his family yam.
He was alleged to have been caught by his uncle breaking into his family's house and stealing 2 tubers of yam.
When caught, he was handed over to the village vigilante group who in turn handed him over to the police. He was remanded in prison sometime in February, 2015 by a magistrate court sitting in Gusau the Zamfara state capital.
In his confession, Mr. Abdul said, "I took drugs (Indian Hemp) and I became hungry, then I took(stole) 2 tubers of yam from family yam, I was caught by my uncle who reported me to the vigilante and to the police. I was later remanded in prison custody by the court.*his statement was translated from Hausa to English language by an independent translator.
His case file was handed over to me as a Corps Lawyer to handle the case pro bono(free of charge), but as I got to the court, I was told by a court official that the Accused was convicted earlier today as he was not represented by a lawyer in court and that he pleaded guilty to the charge preferred against him.
The convict, Mr. Abdul's 2months prison term which commenced from the day he was remanded by the court has about 3 weeks left to serve his jail term.

Poverty is indeed a crime.

Some people dwell in stolen millions and are celebrated yet some steal penny and are harshly prosecuted.

N.B poverty is and will never be a defence to an offence committed.

Plz no political comments here.

***modified***
Please mods move to frontpage... it's a true experience.

Cc
lalasticlala
Seun

At least the sentence was reasonable.

The price of/for stealing one tuber of yam is 1month imprisonment, that's d reason he was sentenced to 2months in jail

Seun:
At least the sentence was reasonable.

Of course it was... I only have problem with the fact that the young man was not represented in court. This is against Section 6 (6) c of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

UnknownT:
The price of/for stealing one tuber of yam is 1month imprisonment, that's d reason he was sentenced to 2months in jail

Please explain, I don't get tour point.

This kind of news makes me laugh,cry and smh. Am so sure the action of the uncle must have been borne out of some repressed resentment against the young man. It's so appaling that a child, nephew, and even neighbour will be destitute and dying of hunger, no one takes note. But when the hungry person dies, you find same relatives and neighbour, donating 100 tubers of yam, bags of rice, beans and abundant food for the burial. What for in this world?
Imagine an uncle sending a poor boy to jail for stealing yam he wants to eat to sustain life. Though the poor boy was wrong but I don't think it's worth the incarceration pettered on the young man. Its a pity.

law001:
Please explain, I don't get tour point.

LOL! I am just looking at it from a mathematical viewpoint