Scale of justice

A Sharia Court in Minna on Monday ordered a 25-year-old man, Abubakar Sani, to be given 20 strokes of cane for stealing a she-goat.

The presiding judge, Ahmed Bima, also ordered the convict to pay a fine of N10,000.

Bima said that in the event of default, the convict would serve six months in jail.

Sani was arraigned on a one-count charge of theft, contrary to Section 287 of the Penal Code.

The Prosecutor, Insp Cletus Ibrahim, had told the court that a member of the vigilance group at Garatu village arrested the accused and brought him to the police station on July 25.

Ibrahim said that the vigilance group member arrested the convict at Garatu Market while he was in the process of selling a brown she-goat valued at N5,000.

He said Sani made a confessional statement.

When the charge was read to him, he pleaded guilty and begged the court for leniency.

(NAN)