Man jailed for stealing church musical instruments.

An Asaba Magistrates Court has sentenced one Johnson Ashiedu, 32, to 10 months imprisonment for stealing hand bells and cymbal drums of a Pentecostal Church, in Abraka Quarters, Asaba, Delta State.

The Magistrate, Mrs. Doris Iwoha, convicted the accused following self-admittance to the charges against him and the evidence provided by the prosecution witness.

The accused, a carpenter was alleged to have been involved in a similar incident while in Ibuso, a nearby community and banished from the community, from where he moved to Asaba.

Magistrate Iwoha said that though the convict had shown some level of remorse, he had to be punished for his crime to serve as a deterrent to others and therefore sentenced him to 10 months imprisonment without any option of fine.

The police prosecutor, Sergeant Margeret Onugah, had earlier told the court that the accused committed the offence on February 26, at about 8pm under the guise of being a member of the church choir.

The prosecutor explained that the convict on the fateful day broke into the church where he stole three hand bells valued N24,000 and cymbal drums valued N35,000.

Onugah said the convict was arrested when a resident spotted him and called the pastor who drove into the church premises in company with two policemen to arrest him at the church premises, adding that the offence committed by the convict contravenes Section 125 and 116 of the Criminal Code Cap 24 Vol. 12 Laws of Delta State 2011.