2 men sentenced to 7 lashes each for public nuisance

A Gudu Upper Area Court in the FCT on Tuesday sentenced Rabiu Sani, 18, and Thompson Gabriel, 23, to seven strokes of cane each for constituting public nuisance.
The Presiding Judge, Alhaji Umar Kagarko, handed down the sentence when Sani and Gabriel pleaded guilty to the charge of constituting public nuisance.
Kagarko also said the convicts should avoid the “black spot’’ where they were arrested and warned them to be of good behaviour.
The prosecutor, Sgt. Ambi Ayuba, had told the court that the accused were arrested at a “black spot’’ in Area 1, Garki, Abuja, by a police patrol team from Durumi Divisional Headquarters on July 5.
Ayuba explained that “the black spot is a place where notorious criminals gather to snatch handbags and motor-cycles from innocent citizens.’’
He added that during police investigation, the convicts could not give satisfactory account of themselves.
He said the offence of public nuisance contravened Section 183 of the Penal Code.
The convicts had pleaded for leniency.