A Kaduna Customary Court on Monday ordered that a scavenger, Tanimu Musa, 24, convicted for cutting and stealing electric transformer copper wires, be given 12 strokes of the cane.
The Judge, Mr John Dauda, passed the sentence, following a guilty plea by the convict.
Dauda said that the light punishment was because Musa saved the court prolonged trial.
He said that the punishment would serve as a deterrent to others and warned Musa to shun crime.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, Sgt. Shamshudeen Isiaka, told the court that scavenger committed the offences on July 20 at 12 a.m.
Musa said that the case was lodged at the Barnawa Police Station, Kaduna by Mr. Amos James of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company(KEDC), Barnawa Regional Office.
He said that Musa trespassed into a transformer located at Barnawa where he cut and stole KEDC transformer copper wires.
Isiaka said that a 180mm copper wires was recovered from the scavenger during a police investigation.
The prosecutor said that the offences contravened the provisions of Sections 327 and 287 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law, 2019.
He had however prayed the court to try the defendant summarily under Section 347 of the Administration of Criminal Justices Act, 2015, because of his admission of guilt.
