A Chief Magistrate Court sitting at Mapo in Ibadan, Oyo State, has on Tuesday sentenced an 18-year-old notorious student of Olunde Community Secondary School, Fawaz Hamzat, to three months of community service.
Hamzat was sentenced for chasing a rival secondary school pupil with a cutlass during an interschool fight.
The Magistrate, O.O. Latunji, held that she convicted and sentenced Hamzat based on his guilty plea and the evidence tendered by the prosecution against him.
Mr Latunji warned the convict to desist from involving himself in any form of crime in future or he would be given a stiffer punishment.
“However, to serve as a deterrent to others, Hamzat is sentenced to three months of community service,” Mr Latunji said.
Earlier, the prosecuting counsel, Inspector Oluseye Akinola, told the court that the convict committed the crime on May 22, at about 3.00 p.m, at Olunde area of Ibadan, Oyo State.
Akinola said that neighbourhood security personnel together with other concerned members of the community apprehended Hamzat after he was found in possession of a cutlass, chasing students of Olunde Grammar School, a rival secondary school, during an interschool fight.
According to the prosecutor, the offence contravened the provision of Section 249 of the Criminal Code Cap 38 vol. ii law of Oyo State, 2000.
The interschool rivalry leading to exchange of dangerous weapons was common especially among secondary schools in the less city areas of Ibadan.
The rivalry was beginning to rear its ugly head again as was the case decades ago.