A 16-year-old Senior Secondary School, SSS 1 pupil, Bolaji Bello, has been remanded by a Lagos magistrates’ court sitting in Ikeja for allegedly robbing a boutique on Tijani Street, Ilemba Awori, in the Ajangbadi area of the state.
Bello and one Friday, now at large, had on December 15, around 10 pm, went to the shop under the pretext of buying clothes. After they had selected some shirts, a pair of trousers and a cap worth N10, 500, they pretended to be making payment to the shop owner, identified as Okeke Ikenna, when they reportedly brought out a gun and a cutlass, ordering him and his girlfriend who was also at the shop, to lie down.
Apart from the clothes, they reportedly dispossessed their victims of two Tecno phones valued at N30, 000, an LG phone valued at N29, 000 and one Infinix phone worth N15, 000, as well as a cash sum of N54, 000.
The suspects had left the shop when some passersby got wind of their operation and gave them a chase, leading to Bello’s arrest. He was eventually handed over to the police at the Ilemba Hausa Division from where he was transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, for investigation.
Bello, who reportedly confessed to the crime saying it was his first time and was initiated to it by the fleeing Friday, was subsequently arraigned before a presiding magistrate in Ikeja, Mrs. O. Olanipekun on two counts of robbery.
According to the police prosecutor, Inspector William Ologun, the offence contravened Section 294 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, and was punishable under Section 295 (2) of the same law.
The charges read, “That you, Bolaji Bello, and one other at large, on December 15, 2015, at about 9.20pm at Iyana Igbede, Ajangbadi, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire to commit felony to wit: robbery, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 295 (2) and punishable under Section 297 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.
“That you, and one other at large, on the same date, time and place, in the aforesaid magisterial district, while armed yourselves with a cutlass and a gun, did rob one Okeke Ikenna of Tijani Street, Ilemba Awori, Ajangbadi, of six polo T-shirts, a pair of trousers and one cap, two Techno phones, an LG phone, one Infinity phone and a cash sum of N54,000 ─ all valued at N138,500 ─ thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 294 and punishable under Section 295 (2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.”
The accused pleaded not guilty.
The defence counsel told the court that Bello’s age, which is 16, had been falsified on the charge sheet as 19.
The observation prompted Olanipekun to go through the statement Bello made to the police after which she discovered that he was actually 16 years old.
Olanipekun subsequently adjourned the matter till February 1, 2016, ordering that the suspect be remanded in the Children Corrective Home while his case file be forwarded to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions for legal advice.
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