Falitatu Amidu and her daughter Ayisatu were sentenced by a magistrates’ court in Isabo, Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Friday for stealing a large sack that included stock fish, dry ponmo, and dry cow meat worth N1 million that belonged to a woman named Mrs. Kafayat Alao.
The defendants were found guilty of two counts of conspiracy and theft. They live in the Abeokuta, Ogun, neighbourhood at No. 21 Ago-oko.
Insp. Kehinde Fawunmi, the police prosecutor, told the court that the defendants committed the crime in the Lafenwa market sometime in August 2024.
According to Fawunmi, Falilatu Amidu used to assist the complainant in carrying her goods from her Lafenwa store to the location where she sells them.
“She was asked to assist the complainant in selecting items from the store, but after waiting for more than an hour without seeing the defendant, she had to visit the store to see how she was doing,” he said.
When she arrived at the store, she failed to locate Falilatu and observed that a large bag that contained dried meat, ponmo, and stock fish was gone, and the defendant was not present.
Falilatu grabbed the commodities and handed them to the daughter (Ayisatu) to sell, Fawunmi added.
He claimed that despite being aware that the items were stolen, Ayisatu’s mother gave them to her.
However, the prosecution pointed out that the offence violated sections 516, 390(9), and 127 of the Ogun 2006 Criminal Code Laws.
The Magistrate of the Abeokuta Magistrates’ Court in Isabo, Mrs O.O. Odumosu, rendered her decision on Friday, concluding that the prosecution’s evidence proved the prisoners’ guilt of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.
However, Odumosun condemned the mother and daughter to six months in prison each, with the possibility of receiving N5,000 as an alternative.
Before they could access the N5,000 fine, she mandated that the prisoners return N100,000 to the complainant as reparations.
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