Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Ikeja Special Offences Court has ordered the Kirikiri Female Correctional Centre to produce a housemaid, Funmilayo Olawale, who is facing a N100m fraud charge along with five others.
The directive was issued on Tuesday after the suspect, Olawale, failed to appear in court for the proceedings.
He noted that the suspect should be present in in the Correctional centre on the next adjourned date, the suspect had been the d=first defendant in the case.
The defendant was innitaly brought before the court on January 19, 2024, the suoecrt was brought alongside Mbadike Aloysius, Ben Dimgba, Emmanuel Eze, Mukaila Husein, and Henry Ochoma, they were brought before the court for an alleged crime of sealing jewellery worth over N100m. They were also re-arraigned in court on March 4, 2024.
The charges brought against the suspects are based on conspiracy, stealing, breaking and entering, burglary, receiving stolen property, and impersonating as a “money doubler. They are facing nine counts. The police had brought the charges against them.
The prosecuting counsel, DSP Henry Obiazi, an officer of the police, had told the court that the suspects and some other individuals who are currently sought have joined hands to commit the alleged offences.
He expplijnd that the defendants had committee the offences in June 2023 in Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos, He further explained that Olawale, a Benin Republic national and mother of three, had allegedly taken away eight boxes of jewellery from her employer in Banana Island.
He noted that the first defendant, Olawale, broke into the residence of the compliments on June 7, 2023, and stole the alleged boxes that contained the jewellery. After committing the crime, the suspect allegedly fled the place and went missing. The prosecutor noted that the other individuals in the case, Aloysius, Dimgba, and Ochoma, cooperated with the first defendant and received the items from him after knowing that they were stolen from the residence of the person who had employed her.
He noted that the second, third, fourth, and sixth defendants knowingly received the stolen jewellery from the first defendant.
While explainig further the prosecutor noted that Husein conspired with one Yusuf Adamu, who is still at large, to receive the stolen property from Eze, who was described as the leader of a criminal syndicate. He alleged that Husein and Adamu had a clear knowledge that the items were stolen from the house of her boss.
He also alleged that Aloysius, Dimgba, Eze, and Ochoma had told the individuals that they had the power to use sorcery to increase any sum of money. He explained that the suspects had claimed that they could produce currency by treating paper or other materials with chemical substances.
He noted that the offences were against Sections 516, 390(6), 411(1)(2), and 427 of the Criminal Code 2004, as well as Section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006.
The defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges brought against them. The judge in the previous court setting had adjourned the case till September 24, 2024, to rule on their bail applications. However, on the resumption of the hearing, the first defendant was not present in court and unrepresented by the counsel which led to the counsel for the fifth defendant, Husein, applied for his bail.
Judge Justice Oshodi granted Husein bail in the sum of N50m, with two sureties in like amount. It was explained that the sureties must deposit original title documents for real estate and provide proof of three years’ tax payment to the Lagos State Government.
The defendant was also told to submit his valid passport to the court’s chief registrar. The j8dge also ordered that if the passport expired, the immigration office must be notified to prevent him from enrolling on a new one.
The case was adjourned until December 3, 2024, for trial.
