A 13-year-old (name withheld) who allegedly broke into a shop and stole phones worth N1.4 million, on Wednesday appeared before an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court.
The 13-year-old appeared before Magistrate B.O. Osunsanmi, along with another teenager, aged 16, on a three-count charge of conspiracy, burglary and stealing.
The defendants, whose addresses were not provided, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Osunsanmi granted them bail in the sum of N100,000 each with one surety each in like sum.
She said that the surety must be a blood relation of the defendant, gainfully employed and show evidence of two years’ tax payment to the Lagos State Government.
The magistrate ordered that the defendants should be kept at the Oregun Juvenile Correctional Home, Ikeja, pending when they would meet their bail conditions.
The Prosecutor, ASP Ezekiel Ayorinde, had told the court that the defendants committed the offences on Feb. 9, at Alagbadoarea of Lagos State.
He said that they burgled a shop belonging to one Mr Benneth Eze, at night.
He said that Eze reported the matter to the police, which tracked one of the stolen phones to the receiver.
Ayorinde said that the receiver confessed that the teenagers sold it to him.
Ayorinde said that the offences contravened Sections 287, 309 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos state, 2015.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 287 stipulates three years’ imprisonment for stealing while Section 309 prescribes seven years’ jail term for breaking in.
The magistrate adjourned the case until May 13 for mention.
