Lagos Police Arraign 16-Year Old Armed Robber

A Lagos magistrates’ court sitting in Ikeja has remanded a
16-year-old pupil, Bolaji Bello, for allegedly robbing a boutique on Tijani
Street, Ilemba Awori, in the Ajangbadi area of the state. It was learnt that,
Bello, a Senior Secondary School 1 pupil, and one Friday, who is at large, had
on December 15, around 10pm, went to the shop under the pretext of buying
clothes.

Punch Metro gathered that they had selected some shirts, a
pair of trousers and a cap worth N10,500, and had 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.

Punch correspondent learnt that apart from the clothes, they
dispossessed their victims of two Tecno phones valued at N30,000; an LG phone
worth N29,000 and one Infinity phone valued at N15,000, as well as a cash sum
of N54,000.

Punch Metro gathered that 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 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 reportedly confessed to the crime, saying it
was his first time and he was initiated to it by the fleeing Friday.

He was subsequently arraigned before a presiding magistrate
in Ikeja, Mrs. O. Olanipekun, on Thursday, on two counts of robbery.

A police prosecutor, Inspector William Ologun, told the
court that 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’s plea was not taken by the court. 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.

The magistrate subsequently ordered 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.

The case was adjourned till February 1, 2016.