- The man who stole yams to feed his family does not deserve the harsh sentencing that he got
A chief magistrate’s court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State, has sentenced one Sunday Ejoh, an artisan, to six months in prison for stealing three tubers of yam. He was however given the option of N25,000. It is doubtful if he had the fine to save him from jail, given that the tubers were worth about N3,000. He reportedly had no legal representation and had pleaded guilty to the crime. He claimed he was hungry and equally needed to feed his family.
While we condemn any criminal act by any citizen, we are curious that in a country with a huge backlog of cases, this particular incident of theft took barely 48 hours to prosecute and pass judgment. We wish such speedy judicial action can be extended to more heinous acts of criminality not just in Osun State but across the country because, as the saying goes, ‘justice delayed is justice denied’.
However, the case of Ejoh reminds us of the recent case of a widow in Akwa Ibom State whose husband had been lynched by a mob because he had stolen some potatoes, apparently to feed his family of four. The widow was in the news because she had resorted to feeding the children with fish and animal feeds. It was after her story went viral that the state’s First lady and some individuals contributed money to help her.
While many might sneer at the convict or even applaud the magistrate, we feel that the society might be drifting to a total loss of values of empathy and compassion in an era of serious economic constraints that is pushing citizens to the edge. The African society is built on a functional community care where people looked out for each other through the extended family and other traditional structures. That expression is seen in the semantic import of the Igbo adage, ‘Igwe bu ike’ (community is strength) or South Africa’s ‘Ubuntu’ (I am because you are).
We are noticing a decreasing sense of empathy and community. In the past, such a man might have received help and some reprimand given that he just wanted to eat and give his children, not for commercial purpose. While there are no details about his past in terms of criminality, the magistrate ought to have considered that he might have been a first time offender and sort of given him a more lenient punishment like community service.
Judge Frank Caprio, one of the most compassionate judges in America popular for his style of dispensing justice with mercy does not compromise justice. He merely tries to understand reasons that forced offenders to break the law and focuses on listening to the offenders and in some instances offering help in paying fines from donations of his global fans. His style does not increase crime; it merely promotes our shared humanity.
The law ought not to be just about justice. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice”. The magistrate, in jailing a man who stole because he was hungry seems to have been more focused on punitive measure than a corrective process. He stole to feed his family, so what happens to the family as he heads to jail? Don’t they matter? Couldn’t he have been given community service time and placed on parole within which time he would be under observation for good behaviour?
Petty stealing like the one under review should not, in the twenty-first century economic climate attract such a high-handed judgment. The judiciary should rather go after the pen robbers whose actions and inactions have left people like Ejoh in dire economic situations. We hope there can be a more compassionate review of this case. The Nigerian correctional centres are too populated to add more convicts in such little acts of social misdemeanor, given the circumstances. Justice must have a human face.
Editorial
Nation