In a record
chasing history that is close to Guinness book of record, a 41 year-old man
arrested by the operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State
Police for stealing the phone of his helper has pleaded that he should be
assisted from going to prison the eighth time.
Confirming the
arrest of the suspected thief, the Police Public Relations Officer,
Superintendent Dolapo Badmos, urged Lagosians not to expose themselves to
criminals. The suspect has been transferred to the Lagos State Taskforce for
prosecution
The suspect,
Emmanuel Oyewunmi, from Ikale, Ondo State, was arrested by the operatives on
Friday night at Ojodu-Berger Bus Stop for stealing N600 and a phone from a bus
driver and a passenger.
Oyewunmi,
before now, has been on the wanted list of RRS’s operatives for stealing a
Samsung Galaxy S4 belonging to one Mrs. Adesewa Oni from her car.
On the said
day, Oyewunmi was a park attendant outside Shoprite Shopping Mall, Ikeja, when
Oni drove in to attend a ceremony at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium in Alausa.
For keeping an
eye on her car, Oni instead of offering Oyewunmi the N200 he requested decided
to drive him to a nearby ATM to withdraw some money out of which she gave him
N1000.
Unwittingly
for her, she left Oyewunmi inside her car while she gets the money from the
ATM. Upon returning, she handed Oyewunmi the N1,000 and she drove off.
The victim,
while reliving her experience said “I have driven about five minutes away from
Alausa when I felt the urge to make some calls for appointments, and I realised
that my phone, Samsung Galaxy S4, was missing. Quickly, my mind raced to him
and I realised my folly.
"How
could I have left a total stranger in my car alone, leaving documents and valuable
items in the car with him? It was just a silly thing to do for me. I traced him
back to that spot but he was gone… When I was done looking for him everywhere,
I was advised to report the incidence at the RRS’s Headquarters the same day,”
she explained.
Oyewunmi on
interrogation admitted stealing the phone of his helper while she left him in
the car to get money through the ATM last week Sunday.
The suspect
said “I was pushed into it by the need to get hard drugs. As soon as I got the
phone, I went to Ipodo in Ikeja to get hard drug. It was the hard drug dealer
that bought it from me. He bought it N8, 000:00. I spent the rest on drug. I
was so pained that I forgot to shave and barb from the proceeds of the stolen
phones.”
He explained
further, “hard drug has spoilt my life. It was the cause of my rejection by my
wife, and my father. I got hooked on drug while I was young and getting out of
it has been extremely difficult for me… Some faith based non-governmental
origination have assisted me through rehabilitation in the past, I have always
gotten back into it. Drug has been the predominant cause of my imprisonment…. If
I am imprisoned now, it would be the eigth time and third time this year.”
On his second
offence, Oyewunmi admitted stealing a phone and N600 from the bus driver and a
passenger but pleaded that he was under the influence of drug.
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