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.
(NAN)
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