A Karmo Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Tuesday, sentenced a carpenter, Chinonso Eze, to 12 months imprisonment, for being in possession of a toy gun and knife at a public place.

Eze, 32, of Gwagwa by Tasha 1, Abuja, was convicted following his guilty plea to charges of attempting to commit an offence and escape from lawful custody.

The Judge, Mr. Abubakar Sadiq, sentenced the convict to six months in jail on each of the two counts. According to him, the punishment would have been more severe if the carpenter had wasted the court’s time and allowed a protracted trial.

He admonished the convict to desist from committing crime in future and become a better citizen. Earlier, the Prosecutor, Mrs. Florence Avhioboh, had told the court that a police patrol unit led by one Insp. Abbah Gabriel, arrested Eze at about 12.25am on September 1.

Avhioboh said that the carpenter was arrested at a Zenith Bank ATM Gallery at Jabi, Abuja, in possession of a toy gun and knife.

She said that when interrogated, the convict could not give a satisfactory explanation of what he was doing at the spot at that time of the night with the items on him.

The prosecutor said that Eze escaped from police custody but was later rearrested.One Chinoso of South-eastern descent in Nigeria will be cooling his heels behind bars for the next one year after being caught with a fake gun and a knife.