A man who was convicted thrice, Femi Ayelegan, has bagged another seven years imprisonment at an Ado-Ekiti Magistrate Court, for stealing N45,000 cell phone.
The serial convict was not given any option of fine.
The Magistrate, Mrs Dolapo Kay-Williams, sentenced Ayelegun after he pleaded guilty to the offence.
In delivering her judgment, Magistrate Kay-Williams said if the defendant was given a minimal sentence, he would still be a burden to the society and to himself.
“In view of this, the defendant is sentenced to seven years imprisonment as provided for by Section 302 (1) (b) of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ekiti State, 2021,” she ruled.
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Earlier, the Prosecutor, Sgt. Sodiq Adeniyi, told the court that the convict committed the offence sometime in 2021 at Okuta-Gbokuta-Lori Area in Ado-Ekiti.
Mr. Adeniyi said the convict stole a phone valued at N45,000 inside a Nissan Almera car with registration number KLE 71 AA, belonging to one Mr Olumide Omoyajowo.
He said that on a fateful day, the convict broke the glass of the front passenger door of the car and also stole a handbag containing N200,000, a Dell laptop valued at N240,000.
The prosecutor said that an N62,000 phone was also in the bag, being the property of Mrs Victoria Fajuyige.
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According to him, the offence contravened Section 302 (6) of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ekiti State, 2021.
Adeniyi told the court that the convict was a habitual criminal.
“He has been imprisoned three times in the past, therefore, I urged the court to give him the punishment he deserves,” the prosecutor told the court.
In his confession before the court, the convict said, “I have stolen a lot of phones that I cannot remember and normally sell to traders at Atikankan area of Ado Ekiti. I am an ex-convict, I have been to prison three times.”
Counsel to the convict, Mr Kayode Oyeyemi, prayed the court to temper justice with mercy given his guilty plea.
