2 SSS-3 students jailed for stealing

A Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, TBS, has sentenced two Senior Secondary School (SSS 3) leavers Udochukwu Anyanwu and Udo Chibike (also known as Lasis), to seven years imprisonment each for breaking into a church and stealing a piano.

Justice Yetunde Adesanya sentenced them after they pleaded guilty to a plea bargain agreement.

The judge held that the term of the imprisonment will start from the day they were first remanded in prison on January 19, 2017.

The convicts were first remanded in prison on January 19, 2017, by a Lagos Magistrates Court and were later charged and arraigned on 27 June 2018, before Justice Yetunde Adesanya on several offences of conspiracy to commit a felony, to wit rob and robbery preferred against them and they pleaded not guilty.

The trial commenced on December 4, 2018, and the Lagos State prosecuting counsel, Mrs A. O. Oluwafemi, Deputy Director of Public Prosecution, called three witnesses and tendered exhibits. But halfway through the trial, Anyanwu and Chibike on February 4, 2019, went through trial within a trial and the court dismissed the trial within trial after ruling that there was a prima facie case against them.

When the case came up on March 4, 2022, the convicts opted for a plea bargain agreement and it was adjourned till March 29, 2022 for sentence.

Anyanwu and Chibike, who were re-arraigned on a one-count amended charge of stealing before Justice Adesanya yesterday changed their not guilty plea to guilty.

The judge said: “The court has ascertained from the defendants that they entered into the plea bargain agreement on their own free volition, free from any coercion and that nobody promised them.

“I have considered the plea bargain and sentencing agreement, which was agreed and duly executed between the parties. I am persuaded that the terms of the agreement are just.

“I hereby convict you, Udochukwu Anyanwu and Udo Chibike of the offence of stealing and you are guilty as charged.

Man impregnates daughter

A 44-year-old artisan, Mustapha Abiodun, is currently cooling off inside one of the cells at the State Police Command, Ikeja for impregnating his teenage daughter in Alagbado area of Lagos.

The victim (names withheld) whose parents are divorced started living with her father two years ago when she was 14 years, but her father started abusing her sexually last June.

It was gathered that the first time Mustapha sexually abused his daughter, he apologised to the victim, saying he was under the influence of alcohol and promised it was never going to happen again.

Unfortunately, the sexual relationship between the duo led to the victim’s first pregnancy in August 2021. When the victim was four months pregnant her father procured an abortion for her in a nearby hospital in Yusuf area of Alagbado.

It was learned that after successfully procuring abortion for his daughter, Mustapha continued to have carnal knowledge of his daughter till she got pregnant again.

According to one of their neighbours (names withheld), Mustapha is very protective of his daughter, he forbids her from interacting with people living in the compound. Apart from when she goes to school or when he goes to work, they were always together. We didn’t know anything was happening between them till we began to notice changes in her body.”

Victim mother’s account

According to the victim’s mother, "I separated from Mustapha when my daughter was three months old. She lived with me till two years back when she started saying she wants to see her father and I obliged. And she began to live with him in Lagos.

"A few weeks ago, I received a distress call from a relative that I should come and take my daughter back. When I came to Lagos, my daughter and her father had travelled to Abeokuta for a burial. When they returned I discovered my daughter was pregnant, so I got the police involved."

Confirming the arrest, spokesperson of Lagos State police command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said the suspect was arrested on March 20, 2022 following the complaint by the victim’s mother. The case is currently being investigated by operatives at the Gender unit of the command.

Police rescue 4-year-old girl abducted from school

A four-year-old girl, Aisha  Rayanu, who was abducted from her School by one Favour Nwachukwu, has been rescued by operatives of the anti-child theft section, State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, SCIID, Akwa Ibom State Police Command.

Speaking during the parade of the suspect, at the Police Headquarters, Ikot Akpan-Abia, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Odiko MacDon, said little Aisha was rescued on March 17, 2022.

MacDon noted that Favour Nwachukwu (20) had stormed Methodist Township Primary School, at 34, Chubb Road, Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area of the state on January 18, 2022, and abducted little Aisha.

He added that Nwachukwu after abducting her victim took her to a camp at Esighi in Akpabuyo Local Government Area in Cross River State, where her boyfriend, an ex-militant, lives as a replacement for her daughter also allegedly stolen.

He noted that until the victim was rescued, her name was changed to Mirabel by her abductors, adding that the suspect has confessed to the crime.

MacDon said: “On January 18, 2022, at about 5 pm one Shuiabu Rayanu of 1, Sani Ogun Road, Ikot Ekpene LGA reported that on the same date, she took her children to Methodist Township Primary School, at 34, Chubb Road, Ikot Ekpene and that at the close of school she went to pick them but could not find her four-year-old daughter, Aisha Rayanu.

“On enquiry, she found out that an unknown person has gone to the school and took her away to an unknown destination.

“On receipt of the case, detectives of Anti Child Theft Unit, SCIID, Uyo, tactically and painstakingly traced and arrested one Favour Nwachukwu, Princes of Ikot Effiom Estate, in Akpabuyu LGA of Cross River State.

“She confessed to the alleged crime that she went to the said school and abducted the girl and took her to her boyfriend, an ex-militant, in a camp located at Essighi, Akpabuyu Local Government Area in Cross River State in replacement for her child that was stolen."

The PPRO, who lauded the operatives of the command for their intervention that led to the rescue of the little girl, also paraded a fake female police Constable, identified as Ms Caroline Udeme.

He disclosed that the fake female Constable, who was arrested with a Police uniform and Identity card, had defrauded one Loveth two women at Itam market, in Itu LGA.

“On 15/3/2022, at about 1816hrs one Miss Caroline Udeme of Idoro road, Uyo 24-years old, was arrested in police Constable uniform along with a police identity card, the suspect has defrauded one Loveth Ifechineke and Joy Joseph all of Itam market of cash and items worth over N500,000.

“All the suspects will have their day in court as soon as the investigation is completed,” MacDon said.

Culled from Vanguard.