Lagos – An Oshodi Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday sentenced two unemployed men, Sodia Saubana,19, and Sunday Ojo,18, to one month imprisonment each for breach of peace and smoking India hemp in public.
The Magistrate, Mr Akeem Fashola, sentenced the accused persons with hard labour, after they pleaded guilty to the two-count charge of breach of peace and possession of Indian hemp.
Fashola who ruled that the convicts should serve their jail terms at the Kirikiri Prison in Lagos, however, said the sentence would run concurrently.
He, however, gave each of the convict an option to pay N20,000 fine.
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“You are hereby sentenced to one- month imprisonment each with hard labour or an option of N20,000 fine each,” he said.
The prosecutor, Cpl. Kehinde Olatunde, told the court that the accused persons committed the offence on March 27, at Railway Line, Oshodi, Lagos.
He said that the accused conducted themselves in a manner likely to cause breach of peace, by disturbing residents of the area after publicly smoking Indian hemp.
According to him, “the accused always smoke weeds in front of some privately-owned houses thereby disturbing the people’s peace.’’
Olatunde also told the court that the accused were in possession of Indian hemp which they sell to customers.
“They were found with a bag containing a commercial quantity of weeds for sale,” he said.
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The prosecutor said that the policemen arrested the accused following a tip-off from residents of the area.
He said the offences contravened Sections166 and 327 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2011. (NAN)
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