Nemesis recently caught up with a suspected serial burglar when he was caught by the occupants of a building at Oluyole extension, off Elebu area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
The Commissioner of Police, Oyo State, Mr Mbu Joseph Mbu, while briefing newsmen on the number of suspected criminals arrested by the Command in recent times, said the suspect, Ahmed Aregbesola, was arrested on September 23, 2012 in the residence of an 80-year-old, Pa Adedoyin Adegboyega.
The suspect, who reportedly came from Abeokuta, Ogun State, to perpetrate the act, was said to have broken the ceiling of the house and used a drum to support himself to gain entrance into the building.
The occupants had gone to church then, so he felt he was in for a bumper harvest. However, one of the sons of the landlord came in from the church and met the suspected burglar inside the building.
The man was said to have raised the alarm, which attracted other members of the community. Some passers-by, who heard of what he allegedly committed, descended on him, using the machet he reportedly brought for the operation. He was later handed over to men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Dugbe, Ibadan.
Speaking with Saturday Tribune, Aregbesola claimed that his problem was not ordinary, alleging that he was spiritually afflicted by his step-mother to make him a robber. “I am from Abeokuta. I am 27 years old. I am a tailor by vocation. It is true I entered a house at Elebu area to steal. My father had a house in Ibadan but after the house was sold, we had no option than to return to Abeokuta.
“On September 23, the day I was caught, I came from Abeokuta to steal at the Elebu area of Ibadan. I entered the house through the ceiling, unknown to me that the son of the owner of the building was around. That was how I was caught inside the ceiling. I did the same thing once before but all I took then were clothes. I did not steal money, phone or laptop. I sold the clothes for N7,500.
“Immediately I was caught this time round, the people descended on me and started macheting me all over my body. It was after this that I was taken to SARS,” he stated.
Saturday Tribune learnt that the suspect was charged to the Magistrates’ Court, Iyaganku on October 10, on a one-count charge of breaking-in and entering. It was gathered that immediately the prison officials who brought other accused persons to the court sighted him, they started reprimanding him.
They were said to have told the police officers who took him to court that he had just been released from Agodi Prisons (September), and that he had promised to return to Abeokuta to start a good life.
Though his case was supposed to be heard in Court 11, police sources informed Saturday Tribune that the Magistrate sitting in that court was not available, so the case was mentioned in Magistrate Court 10. The accused was said to have pleaded guilty, but the magistrate ordered that he should be remanded in prison while the case was adjourned to October 29, when it is expected that the magistrate in court 11 will be hearing the case.
