A Zuba Grade 1 Area Court on Tuesday sentence a 20-years-old man, Wasiu Oladimeji, to six strokes of the cane for stealing N1,500.
The judge, Malam Gambo Garba, sentenced the convict after he pleaded guilty to the one-count charge of theft.
Garba expressed dismay at how the police would arraign an accused through a First Information Report (FIR) just for stealing such an amount.
"Sergeant, You mean because of N1,500 you brought this man on FIR before the court?
"What do you want the court to do? To send him to prison and have the Federal Government spend money on his upkeep too?
"This is something the police could have handled even without bringing him before the court, after all the money have been recovered from him,’’ Garba said.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, Momoh Ibrahim, had told the court that on Feb. 5 the convict of no fixed address stole N1,500 belonging to Ahmed Ibrahim of Deidei-Abuja.
Ibrahim said that during police investigation the money was recovered from the convict.
The prosecutor said the offence contravened Section 288 of the Penal Code.