A 23-year old housemaid, Rita Emmanuel, has been arrested and charged to court for allegedly stealing her employer’s jewellery valued at N40 million on Victoria Island, Lagos State, southwest Nigeria.
Rita, an indigene of Calabar, Cross River State, southsouth Nigeria, allegedly admitted to the police that she stole the jewellery and handed them over to a fraudster who promised to make sacrifice for her to solve her family problems and enable her marry a white man that would take her abroad.
The housemaid was arrested following a complaint lodged by Mrs. Adaeze Nwuba to the police at Zone 2 Command, Onikan, Lagos Island.
She told the police that when she was not at home, Rita entered her room and absconded with her box of jewellery.
In her confessional statement to the police, Rita allegedly admitted that she was charmed by the fraudster whom she met on the street to steal the jewellery.
“When I went to buy a recharge card, a young man accosted me on the street and said God told him to help me solve my family problems. He told me to go back home and bring my madam’s jewellery for him to make a sacrifice for me.
“He promised me that after the sacrifice, all my enemies in my family will die and I would be able to marry a white man that will take me abroad. The moment he spoke with me, I lost my senses, and I ran home to pack my madam’s jewellery and handed them over to him,” she allegedly told the police.
Rita said after the man collected the jewellery, he took her to an unknown place with his car along with two other men and they raped her in turns.
“He dropped me off at Oshodi Bus Stop the next day and warned me not to tell anybody about what happened. He promised me that a white man would approach me for marriage within two days. Before I regained my consciousness, he had gone,” she said.
Rita was charged before an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court on a two-count charge of stealing.
The offence, the prosecutor, Innocent Odugbo said, contravened sections 409 and 285 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2011.
The accused pleaded guilty to the crime in the open court and the presiding Chief Magistrate, Mrs. C.J. Momodu adjourned the matter till 22 July.
Momodu ordered that Rita should be remanded in Kirikiri Prisons, Apapa, Lagos till the adjourned date.
Naija Echo 