A 26-year-old man, Samuel Douglass, has been sentenced to 12 months in prison by an Akure Magistrate’s Court, Ondo State, for diverting four baskets of tomatoes belonging to his employer.
Douglass was said to have sold the produce instead of delivering it as instructed, with the prosecution alleging that he converted the proceeds to his personal use.
The offence was committed in July 2026 at about 6am at Fourth Gate, Afunbiowo Estate, Akure, within the Akure Magisterial District. 
The court heard that the defendant’s employer, Abimbola Akintomide, had given him the tomatoes valued at N140,000 to deliver to a driver at Ilesa Garage.
According to the prosecutor, Taiwo Oniyere, Douglass failed to make the delivery and allegedly disposed of the four baskets for his own benefit.
The police subsequently brought him before Magistrate Olusola Olujobi on a one-count charge of stealing under Section 390(6) of the Criminal Code, Cap. 37, Vol. 1, Laws of Ondo State, 2006.
Douglass admitted committing the offence when the charge was read to him, prompting his lawyer, Adeluyi Segun, to plead for mercy.
Counsel urged the court to consider that his client was young and had no previous conviction, while also asking that he be allowed to pay a fine rather than serve a custodial sentence.
Magistrate Olujobi, however, sentenced him to one year imprisonment and directed him to pay N140,000 to the complainant. The court ruled that failure to make the payment would mean serving the custodial sentence.
