An Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti Division, has sentenced a burglar, Jimoh Dele, to 21 years’ imprisonment.

According to the charge, the defendant, on May 11, 2020, around Mobil Petrol Station, Waterworks, in the Ajilosun area of Ado Ekiti, broke into a building “as well as a shop belonging to Oluwayemisi Adeleye and carted away goods and foodstuffs worth over N234,000.”

The prosecutor, Kunle Adeyemo, said the offences were contrary to sections 413 and 390(9) of the Criminal Code Law, Cap. C16, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.

In her statement to the police, the complainant said, “My shop was burgled twice, in May 2020 and June 2021 during which my foodstuffs and soup ingredients, including rice, semovita, wheat and tomato paste, among others, which I was selling, were stolen.”

A policeman, Sergeant Oladele Ayodeji, in his testimony before the court, said the defendant was arrested on November 19, 2021.

“During interrogation, he confessed to have participated in criminal activities such as kidnapping, burglary and stealing, including breaking into the complainant’s shop,” he added.

Justice Olalekan Olatawura, who found the defendant guilty, sentenced him to 14 years on count one and seven years on count two.

The sentences are to run concurrently.