The Federal High Court in Enugu on Thursday sentenced three first-time drug offenders to eight months’ imprisonment each after they pleaded guilty to separate charges of unlawful possession of illicit drugs.
Justice M.T. Segun-Bello handed down the sentences after considering the convicts’ guilty pleas, their status as first-time offenders, the non-commercial quantities of the drugs recovered from them, and the absence of aggravating factors.
The judge said the sentences were intended to reform the convicts rather than serve as purely punitive measures, urging them to embrace lawful conduct after serving their terms.
The first convict, Ogbonna Dike, 30, was arraigned on a two-count charge of unlawful possession of 0.92 grammes of methamphetamine and 60 grammes of cannabis sativa.
The prosecution counsel, Orji Kalu, told the court that operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arrested Mr Dike at Okpanku in Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State on 5 April.
