KLEPTOMANIAC: Rasheed Ademola
Rasheed Ademola, 26, who was arrested
and charged to court for burglary and stealing, has told the court that he
cannot resist the temptation to steal.
The kleptomaniac pleaded guilty to
the offences and told the court that he didn’t know what was wrong with him,
adding that he tried in the past to resist stealing but that the more he tried,
the more his desire to steal.
He confessed that he was influenced
by his friend, Hope Ariyo, who lives with him in the same house. He also told
the court that he and Ariyo used to go out in the night and early morning to
burgle people’s shops and steal their property.
The
remorseful Ademola revealed:
My mom did
all she could to stop me from stealing but all to no avail. She advised and
prayed for me to change. She even took me to prayer houses but after all these,
it gets worse.
He was arrested along with his
accomplice after they broke into an auto shop at 7, Aje Street, Ilasamaja,
Lagos and carted away spare parts worth N250,000, belonging to Chika Okpara, a
spare parts dealer in the area.
While they were carting away the
goods, they were caught by residents of the area and handed over to the police
at Ilasa division. They were charged with burglary and stealing.
While Ademola pleaded guilty to the
two-count charge, his friend, Ariyo pleaded not guilty and started crying, pleading
with the magistrate to release him because he knew nothing about the matter.
Infuriated Ademola told the court to
ignore Ariyo’s crocodile tears of innocence because he is a thief who had gone
to prison five times for criminal offences. He revealed in the court that he
and Ariyo lived in the same house at 18, Aje Street, Ilasamaja and became
friends when they discovered that both of them shared the same passion for
stealing.
Ademola confessed further that they
usually go out at night and early in the morning to burgle people’s shops and
steal their property. He challenged Ariyo to tell the court what he was doing
outside their house while others were sleeping on the day he was arrested.
These revelations shocked Ariyo who
later admitted before the court that he had gone to prison several times
for breaking the law.
After he was exposed in the court by
Ademola, Ariyo stopped crying and raised his hand to change his plea
to guilty but he was ignored by the presiding magistrate.
The matter was adjourned, while the
accused were remanded in prison custody.
- PMNews