JAMB Employee Sentenced to Jail for Laptop Theft

A contract worker at the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has been sentenced to six months in prison by Magistrate Court 2 in Kado – Life Camp, Abuja.

JAMB reported in its weekly bulletin, approved by spokesman Fabian Benjamin, that Emmanuel Odey, the perpetrator, was accused of stealing an HP laptop from the Board’s FCT Zonal Office on July 13, 2023.

The offense falls under Section 287-289 of the Penal Code and carries a corresponding punishment. Odey, who worked as a cleaner at the office, confessed to the theft during the court hearing.

He tearfully admitted to taking the laptop worth N350,000 to cover his overdue house rent. In his plea for leniency, he claimed sole responsibility but attributed his actions to the influence of the devil, and earnestly requested a second chance.

“The bulletin further stated after an intense cross-examination, the Senior Magistrate, Mr. Egbe Joshua, stated that, “the defendant, a first-time offender, had shown remorse and had not wasted the precious time of the court and recognised youthful exuberance as a possible factor in the crime.

“The Senior Magistrate summarily tried and convicted the defendant under Section 112(8) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, and sentenced him to six months imprisonment with an option of a fine of five thousand naira.”

The Board noted that in an earlier bid to unravel the mystery of the missing HP laptop, it set up an investigating team headed by Superintendent of Police, Joy Abuma, whose “painstaking investigation” led to the arrest of the defendant and his eventual confession that he had hidden the laptop in his sister’s residence.

Source: PUNCH