Hemp gives me strength – Labourer tells Court

An ex-convict, Peter Bitrus, on Tuesday told a Kubwa Grade 1 Area Court that he could not do without hemp smoking, saying it is my source of strength to work.

Bitrus, who is residing in Kubwa area of Abuja, had sometime been convicted by another court for the same offence.
He, however, pleaded guilty to a charge of public nuisance, urging the court to have mercy on him.
Bitrus told the court that he would have dumped the habit since, “but hemp smoking strengthened me to work as a labourer’’. ‎
‎According to him, I am ready to go back to my hometown in Kagarko, Kaduna State and I will not smoke hemp again, if acquitted.
The Judge, Mohammed Marafa, said that Bitrus looked remorseful and worrisome, but must be punished to deter others.
Marafa added that Bitrus had been convicted for the same offence sometimes ago.
The judge, therefore, sentenced Bitrus to two months in prison with an option of N10, 000 fine.
He also ordered that Bitrus, being an ex-convict, should be given five strokes of cane.
The prosecutor, Babajide Olanipekun, had told the court that Bitrus was found at a black spot on Dec. 26 in Quarry Estate, Kubwa area of Abuja, smoking hemp.
He said that as a result, Bitrus had caused nuisance to members of the public and that the offence contravened Section 198 of the Penal Code.