A
Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti has sentenced one Ali Haruna to
two years imprisonment for taking his cows for grazing in a farmland and
destroying crops.
The
Magistrate, Idowu Ayenimo, in his judgement, said the accused was arraigned in
his court on Jan 22, 2016 over a two-count charge of wilful and unlawful damage
of farm crops at Ago Aduloju in Ado-Ekiti.
The
18-year-old Haruna was confirmed by the four prosecuting witnesses to have been
caught in the midnight grazing his cow in the farm belonging to Abdulahi Yaho
and Bello Mohammed.
The
cash crops said to have destroyed by the cows in the farm included cassava,
maize, okro and pepper, all valued at N3 million.
In
his defence, the defendant had told the court that the owner of the cows lived
in Ilorin, Kwara.
The
magistrate said that the court did not believe Haruna’s defence as it was not
credible.
He
held that the police prosecutor, Mr Olasunkanmi Bankole, had proved his case
beyond reasonable doubt.
He
thereby convicted the defendant as charged without option of fine.
The
magistrate ordered that sentence should run concurrently, explaining that the
term was minimal because the offence was committed before the Grazing Law was
promulgated in the state.
The
defence counsel, Mr Chris Omokhafe, had prayed the court to be liberal in the
dispensation of justice, saying that he was a first offender.
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