Police arraign man over theft of cooking pot, slippers, stabiliser at Ibadan Poly

A 33-year-old man, Olalekan Rauf, who allegedly pretended as a scavenger in the premises of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, was yesterday brought before the magistrate’s court in the Iwo Road area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

Rauf is standing trial on a two-count charge of conspiracy to steal and unlawful possession of some items.

The prosecutor, Inspector E. Adeyeye, told the court that the defendant and one other person on October 12, 2017 at about 2:00p.m., entered the house of one of the senior staffers of the institution to steal some valuable items.

A security officer with the institution who arrested the defendant, Mr. Yahaya Taofeek, said the defendant pretended as a scavenger who picks useless metals around the institution, but that he later burgled a three-bedroom flat belonging to a senior member of staff of the institution who had gone on an education tour.

Taofeek said that before the defendant was arrested, he had destroyed all the iron and metals items he was alleged to have stolen to give the impression the items were scraps.

Among the stolen items are an iron cooking pot, a stabilizer, a computer set, palm slippers, an electricity change over and a cooking gas burner. He added that when he was apprehended, the defendant pleaded he would cooperate with the security of the institution if they promised not to injure him and that the other member of the gang had fled. But Rauf pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Senior magistrate, S. O. Babalola, granted him a N20,000 bail with two sureties and adjourned the case to November 20, 2017 for further hearing.