A Karmo Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Wednesday sentenced a 29-year-old ex-convict, Mubarak Abdullahi, to five months in prison for stealing one chicken.
The judge, Mr Inuwa Maiwada, however, gave the convict an option of N10, 000 fine, and warned him to be of good behaviour.
Abdullahi, who resides at Angwan Hausawa Karmo, had pleaded guilty to the three counts of being in possession of a chicken suspected to be stolen, idleness and constituting nuisance.
The convict pleaded with the court saying, “Please sir, temper justice with mercy, times are hard, and no work in the country.”
Earlier, the Police Prosecutor, Ijeoma Ukagha, told the court that one Mohammed Ismailia, a team of vigilance group at Idu Gbagji, arrested and took him to the Karmo Police Station on Monday.
The prosecutor said that the convict has been prosecuted before for stealing a turkey.
During police investigation, he said that the convict confessed to the crime and all efforts made by the police to take them where he stole the chicken from proved abortive.
Ukagha said the offence contravened the provisions of sections 319, 406 and 199 of the Penal Code.