STEALING

One Abdullah Mohammed from Mabushi area of Abuja was on Thursday jailed for three weeks by an Abuja magistrate court allegedly stealing a generator worth N120,000 (One Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira only)

Mohammed was said to have conspired with one Tunde to commit the crime, Tunde is currently on the run as security men are said to be after him, Mohammed was found guilty of the offence and sentenced by the Magistrate.

Some blame stealing on poverty i blame it on laziness and the failure on the path of the past and present leaders of our great country.

Stealing according to the criminal code is when a person fraudulently takes or converts anything capable of being stolen is deemed to do so fraudulently if he does so with any of the following intents

(i)                an intent to permanently deprive the owner of the thing of its

(ii)              an intent permanently to deprive any person who has any special property in the thing of such property

(iii)            an intent to use the thing as a pledge or security

(iv)            an intent to  deal with it in such a manner that it cannot be returned in the condition in which it was at the time of taking or conversion

in case of money , an intent to use it at the will of the person who takes or converts it, or although he may intend afterwards to repay the amount to the owner.

The penal code also describe it as theft with shall be deemed to have been committed by a person who covertly, dishonestly and without consent , takes any lawful property belonging to another, out of its place of custody and valued not less than the minimum stipulated value without any justification

Once it can be established that there was an intention to steal by the accused, false accounting, proof of ownership of the item stolen then anyone found guilty shall be sentence for stealing.

Also, the popular maxim ‘cui podest scelus is fecit’ whoever profits by a crime commits the crime in BADGIE V. THE STATE (1995) GR 329@332 where it was stated that to sustain a conviction of stealing property it must establish the commission of the principal offence, that the accused received the property, that when the accused received the property it was still a stolen property, and that the accused knew or had reason to believe at the time he was receiving the property that it was a stolen property.

Thank you

Oyenike Alliyu-Adebiyi LLB (hons) BL