A 31 year old, disengaged teacher of Living Spring Montessori School at Adagunodo Street, Ire-Akari Estate, Isolo Lagos has been sentenced to one year in prison for attempting to rob the school of a Dell laptop valued at N70, 000 and an LG plasma TV valued at N70,000.
The convict, Edeh Tochukwu was said to have been found in the headmistress’ office at about 10pm by the proprietress’s son, Mr Adura Afelumo and the estate’s security officers.
Afelumo said “I came into the compound which houses the school and a church to drop a keyboard, which myself and other choristers would use to continue our rehearsals at 10pm from where we stopped at 8:30pm. I locked the premises at 8:30pm and went home to return at 10pm”
Afelumo said on his return, he noticed a flashlight emitting from inside the headmistress office facing directly opposite the gate. Suspecting that someone was inside there he gently opened the gate and quietly walked towards the office building to confirm his suspicions. “Immediately I was sure someone was inside I carefully walked to the estate’s security and drew their attention to the scene”
It was gathered that when the security officers ordered the intruder to come out and as he jumped out from the back window, Afelumo said he identified him as Mr Edeh, a former English teacher with the school.
On checking the office to ascertain if anything was amiss, Afelumo disclosed that “a laptop was found in a yellow polythene bag beside the main gate and a plasma TV laid on the playground whereas its usual location is in the nursery classroom. The big gate was also left slightly ajar where previously it used to be closed, and can only be opened from inside” Afelumo concluded.
Afelumo’s mother and also the school head, Mrs Taiwo Afelumo told the court she employed Edeh in 2018 to teach English but stopped him late 2019 due to what she considered “his conduct in the school premises and several complaints from outsiders having to do with money and gambling”.
Edeh pleaded guilty.
Edeh who squats with a friend in the area, said he was passing by the school when he saw Afelumo rehearsing with other choristers and came to him to ask for financial aid to support him travel back to his parents at Abuja as he had been relieved of his job in his (Afelumo’s) mum’s school on the 23rd December 2019.
“Seeing he was busy, I decided to wait in the school compound pending when they finished rehearsals. Realizing it was getting late, I stayed back in one of the classrooms and didn’t know when the person (Afelumo), I came to look for locked up the gate and left. When I came outside and noticed the gate was locked, I started looking for a way to come out” Edeh recounted.
“I sincerely doubt that I could take those items away since I didn’t know how to go out with it without being found out” he said.
The Police Prosecutor, Sergeant Oje Uagbale told the court the offences were contrary to section 280 and punishable under section 287 and section 309(1) and punishable under section 309(2) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria 2015.
The chief magistrate, Olufumilayo A. Teluwo found Edeh guilty and sentenced him to one year imprisonment.
