Ugbor Samuel, Abakaliki
An Ebonyi State Magistrate’s court on Thursday sentenced one Nwonu Emmanuel, a blind man’s son to 12 months imprisonment for stealing Church offering.
The suspect, it was alleged, had penultimate Wednesday, stolen some undisclosed amount of cash and phone, from a woman at the Udunukwe area of Abakaliki, the state capital.
Our correspondent gathered that luck ran out of the accused person, after he was arrested by men of the Nigerian Police, on Monday, but on a close search, the sum of N41, 465.00, was found on him.
The suspect, Mr Emmanuel, had told the police that he barged into the St. Patrick Catholic Church in the Capital City, broke the offering box and took the money (N41, 465.00.).
The accused person, it was further gathered, committed the offence at St. Patrick Catholic Church, Kpirikpiri, in the Abakaliki Local Government Area of the state, on July 11, 2020.
He was arraigned before the Magistrate’s court on two counts of burglary and stealing, on Thursday.
The charge read, “That you Nwonu Emmanuel ‘m’ on the 11th day of July, 2020, at St. Patrick Catholic Church Kpirikpiri, Abakaliki in the Abakaliki Magisterial District did enter a building used for religious worship and stole the sum of Forty-One Thousand Four Hundred and Sixty-Five Naira (N45, 465.00), belonging to St. Patrick Catholic Church and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 415 of the Criminal Code Cap. 33, Vol. 1, Laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria, 2009.
“That you Nwonu Emmanuel ‘m’ on the same date and place in the same aforesaid Magisterial District did wilfully and unlawfully damaged one offering box and it’s padlock valued Fifteen Thousand Naira (N15,000.00) property of St. Patrick Catholic Church Kpirikpiri, Abakaliki and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 451 of Criminal Code Cap. 33, Vol. 1, Laws of Ebonyi State of Nigeria, 2009.”
He was slammed 12 months imprisonment without an option of fine.
The Police Prosecutor, Sergeant Alumona Sabastine, tendered the stolen cash, the damaged padlock and a phone, as evidence against the suspect, before the court.
The suspect, who confessed to the crime, said his poor condition pushed him into the act, saying life had not been meaningful to him since he lost his job, as a driver.
“I am really suffering and taking care of myself and my blind father, has not been that easy for me. Currently, I have no place of my own to stay. I sleep under Spera-In-Deo flyover every night. I was a driver and I lost my job and since then, I have not found any other job to do,” the suspect said.
The court, presided over by Chief A.C. Nwusulor, said the offenses would have earned the suspect seven years imprisonment, but decided to limit it to 12 months, so that the accused could think and repent.
