A Dei-Dei Grade I Area Court in Abuja has ordered the remand of a 27-year-old security guard, Stephen George, who was arraigned for alleged theft.
The Judge, Mr. Saminu Suleiman, ordered that George should be remanded at the correctional center and directed the defence counsel, Lillian Ibrahim, to make a formal application for the defendant’s bail.
IIbrahim, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that had earlier made an oral bail application for the defendant, which the judge denied.
Sulieman adjourned the matter until May 30 for a hearing.
The police had preferred a charge of theft against George, to which he pleaded not guilty.
Earlier, the Prosecution Counsel, Mr. Chinedu Ogada, told the court that the complainant, Mr. Shelpon Sharpon, reported the matter at the Galadima Police Station on April 30.
Ogada alleged that the defendant, a security guard at Hillside School, Galadima, criminally siphoned diesel from the school’s standby generator.
The prosecution counsel added that the defendant also damaged the water pipe while passing the diesel through the fence.
He said that during police investigations, the defendant confessed to having stolen four liters of diesel and sold the same to an unknown person.
The offence, Ogada said, contravened the provisions of sections 287 and 326 of the Penal Code.
The defense counsel, Lillian Ibrahim orally made an application for the defendant’s bail pursuant to Section 36 subsection 5 of the 1999 constitution.
She urged the court to exercise its discretion judiciously in favour of the defendant. (NAN)
