A 23-year-old student, Rabiu Garba, was on Thursday, sentenced to 12 strokes of the cane by a Kaduna Chief Magistrates’ Court, for stealing a laptop and two cell phones.

The Magistrate, Ibrahim Emmanuel, sentenced Garba after pleading guilty to two counts of trespass and theft.

The convict, who resides at Badiko in Kaduna and had pleaded guilty earnestly, appealed for leniency from the court, vowing to reform his ways.

The magistrate held that the court was lenient towards Garba because he did not waste the court’s time with his admission of guilt.

He, however, advised the convict to be of good behaviour and desist from crime in the future.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Insp. Chidi Leo, told the court that Yusuf Usman, of same address as the defendant, reported the matter at Gabasawa Police Station on May 3.

According to Leo, Garba trespassed into the complainant’s room and made away with his laptop valued at N220,000 and two phones valued at N342,000.

He said the items were recovered from the defendant while disposing them, but the laptop was no longer functional.

The prosecutor said that the offences contravened the Penal Code of Kaduna State, 2017