Jos Court Jails Two for Stealing ₦488,000 Worth of Clothes from Fashion Store

A Jos Area Court has sentenced two men, Michael Auta and Gabriel Sunday, to 12 months imprisonment each for stealing clothes worth ₦488,000 from a fashion shop.

Presiding Judge Shawomi Bokkos delivered the verdict on Monday after the defendants pleaded guilty to the charge of theft. However, the court gave them an option to pay a ₦50,000 fine each in place of jail time.

Beyond the jail term or fine, the judge also ruled that the convicts must compensate the shop owner, Ms. Gift Ernest, with ₦200,000 each. Failure to pay the compensation will result in an additional 12-month prison term, the court declared.

Inspector Daniel Damulak, the police prosecutor, told the court that the theft was reported to the B Division Police Station on April 17. According to the complaint, the two men broke into Ms. Ernest’s fashion store and made away with clothing items valued at nearly half a million naira.

Damulak further explained that both Auta and Sunday confessed during police investigations, and their actions violated provisions of the Plateau State Penal Code Law (2017) applicable in Northern Nigeria.