Man breaks into employer’s store at midnight, steals clothes

The 24-year-old, who was arraigned on two counts bordering on burgling and stealing his employer, Igbaboa Dolly’s property in the Gbagada area of Lagos.

Clinton was charged with stealing his employer’s horsepower air conditioner worth ₦300,000; 10 school bags worth ₦35,500; three bags of clothes worth ₦88,000; three stabilisers worth ₦120,000; four compressors worth ₦200,000, expensive wines among other items.

According to a police prosecutor, Çhekwube Okeh, the defendant committed the offence in September 2023 at Plot 15 Ramitu Oluwakemu Street, Medina Estate, Ifako, in the Gbagada area of the state.

She said Dolly hired the defendant to be her sales boy, but the latter broke into the store through the roof and with the help of his accomplices, and made away with all her properties in the middle of the night.

The prosecutor argued that the offences contravened and are contrary to Sections 309 and 287(7) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.

The charges read in part, “That you, Jackson Clinton, sometime in September 2023 at Plot 15, Ramotu Oluwakemi Street, Medina Estate, Ifako Gbagada Lagos, in the Yaba Magisterial District did unlawfully break into the store of Mrs Igbaboa Dolly through the ceiling to commit a felony and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 309 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.”

The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him.

Magistrate Balogun admitted him to bail in the sum of ₦500,000 with two responsible sureties in like sum, following his plea. She, then, adjourned the case till December 15 for mention.