Usman Tijani, 32, was arraigned in a Kado Grade 1 Area Court in Abuja on Monday for allegedly stealing his friend’s mobile phone worth N470,000.
Tijani of Garki village in Abuja was charged with theft by the police.
According to the prosecution counsel, Stanley Nwafoaku, the complainant, Fatima Mohammed of Kano State, reported the matter on March 24 at the Wuse divisional police headquarters, Zone 3.
Nwafoaku claimed that the defendant summoned the complainant to meet him at the Rodzee Hotel in Wuse, Zone 5, Abuja, and that while they were there, the complainant decided to take a bath.
He told the court that while Mohammed was taking a bath, Tijani stole her Iphone Promax, which was worth N470,000, and fled the hotel.
According to the prosecution, when the complainant came out of the bathroom, she noticed her phone was missing and immediately alerted security officials, who arrested the defendant.
He told the court that during the police investigation, the defendant admitted to stealing the phone, and that the crime violated section 287 of the penal code.
The defendant, on the other hand, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Charity Nwosu, the defendant’s defence counsel, applied for bail in the most liberal terms possible.
Nwosu filed the application, citing sections 36 of the 1999 constitution and sections 158 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, and promising that if granted, the defendants would not jump bail.
The prosecution counsel, on the other hand, did not object to the defence counsel’s bail application.
The defendant was granted bail in the sum of N200,000 with one surety in the same amount by the Judge, Muhammed Wakili.
Wakili ordered that the surety provide a BVN printout, a recent passport photograph, and a valid identification card, which the court registrar must verify.
The matter was adjourned by the Judge until May 23, for a hearing.
