One Bakary Sawo was yesterday convicted and sentenced by the Bundung Magistrates’ Court to a fine of D10,000 in default to serve three months in prison.
The convicted person, Bakary Sawo, was arraigned before the said court for stealing three mobiles belonging to one Sheikh Tijan Gaye.
The court further ordered that the three mobile phones be returned to the complainant.
According to the particulars of offence, on 11 August 2013, at Sukuta Nema, Kombo North District of the West Coast Region, the accused, Bakary Sawo, stole three mobile phones marked Nokia valued at D2,550, from the house of Sheikh Tijan Gaye.
Narrating the facts of the case, the prosecuting officer revealed that it happened on 11 August 2013, at Sukuta Nema, in the Kombo North District of the West Coast Region.
He said the accused, Bakary Sawo, entered into the house of Sheikh Tijan Gaye, and stole three mobile phones, all Nokia marked, valued at D2,550. The facts further stated that the case was reported to Sukuta Nema Police Station, and the accused was arrested by officers from the said station.
Both the cautionary and voluntary statements were obtained from him, and a charge was preferred against him, to which he admitted, the facts stated, adding that all the phones were recovered from him.
The prosecutor, at that point, applied to tender the stolen mobile phones, which were admitted and marked as exhibits.
When the three mobile phones were shown to the accused, he identified them and confirmed that those were the phones he stole from the complainant’s house.
He admitted the facts as narrated by the prosecutor.
The convict, in his plea of mitigation, told the court that he felt remorseful about the act, and promised it would never happen.
He said he was not living with his biological parents but with his grandmother who was a high-blood patient.
The old woman relied on him for support, he added, while pleading with the court to temper justice with mercy.
The trial magistrate, in passing the sentence, told the accused that he was a criminal which was why he went to the house of the complainant to steal his mobile phones.
“If you know that you have lost your parents, you should endeavour to engage in something meaningful,” the magistrate said.
He finally sentenced the convict to a fine of D10,000 in default to serve three months in prison.