By OLAWALE AKINREMI

A Grade A Customary Court sitting at Mapo in Ibadan has sentenced 18-year-old Zainab Adebayo to six months’ imprisonment with hard labour for stealing N800,000 from her neighbour’s bedroom.

Delivering the judgment, the court’s President, Mrs O.E. Owoseni, held that Adebayo was convicted and sentenced based on her guilty plea and the evidence presented by the police prosecution.

Owoseni held that the sentence would serve a deterrent to others with similar criminal tendencies.

He sentenced Adebayo to six months’ imprisonment or, alternatively, six months of community service.

She was also given the option to pay a fine of N200,000.

The convict, upon her arraignment on Friday, confessed to the two-count charge of entering and stealing charges.

The prosecution, Insp Ayodele Ayeni, had earlier informed the court that the crime was committed on March 28 at the Ologuneru area in Ibadan, Oyo State.

Ayeni explained that Adebayo entered the bedroom of Mrs Temitope Musbau, the complainant, a businesswoman, and stole her piggy bank, popularly known as ‘kolo,’ which contained N500,000 in cash.

The prosecutor further stated that Adebayo also stole an additional N150,000 in cash kept outside a safe, along with various perfume bottles totaling N150,000, from the same room.

According to Ayeni, the offences contravene the provisions of sections 412 and 390(9) of the Criminal Code, Cap. 38 Vol. II, Law of Oyo State, 2000. (NAN)