Nine months' imprisonment was the sentence given to a man who pleaded guilty to being in possession of a cellphone while in custody.

Kemar Lawson, 22, charged with introducing a cellphone in a lock-up illegally, was sentenced in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court on Friday.

The court was told that a search was conducted at the lock-up where Lawson was being housed from January 20, and a Samsung cellular phone was found in his underpants.

In Lawson's defence, his lawyer argued that his client was making a call to his mother because he was away from her so long for the first time.

Senior Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey told the court that having a cellphone in a lock-up was a serious offence that could endanger the lives of many people.