By Sunmola Olowookere
A widow, Mrs Stella Asuelimen has narrated to an Akure High Court how armed robbers robbed her and her deceased husband using POS, Point of Sales device which they brought along with them .
She gave narrated her experience while testifying before Justice Adeyemi Fasanmi in a case of armed robbery brought against six men; Noa Tosin, Adewale Oke, Abdulsalam Habeeb, Ayodele Sunday, Adeosun Bamidele and Omotuase Sunday.
The men were arraigned on a three count charge of conspiracy, armed robbery and receiving stolen property.
The seventh defendant, Haruna Emmanuel who was arraigned along with them was charged with receiving stolen property. They all pleaded “not guilty” to the charges preferred against them.
At the time of the robbery, they allegedly made away with a total of N160,000, a Toyota highlander with registration number FST 916 DL valued at N4.2 million , Samsung phone, Techno phone, lamp rechargeable florescent, traveling bag and foodstuffs among others.
The first six men were alleged to have invaded the residence of one late Dr. Benedict Asuelimen on September 16, 2019 around midnight.
While being led in evidence by the prosecuting counsel, Tolu Abisagbo, the witness stated that she got to see the defendants only when the police investigation commenced and had never met them before.
On the day of the robbery, she stated that she was woken by a flashlight shone on her face while a gun was pressed to her neck. She said that she heard a voice tell her and her husband to cooperate or else they would lose their lives.
She told the court that she could not see the faces of the armed robbers as the room was dark. She however said that they were three in number.
“The armed robbers demanded for our ATM cards and our pins which we quickly surrendered while begging them to please spare our lives,” Asuelimen narrated.
She said that they were three and one sat on their chair while the two others roamed their room searching for valuables to steal.
She said that the leader ranted at them saying he was a graduate of Political Science but could not get job which made him turn to armed robbery.
All the while, she testified that their hands were tied with their pillow cases that had been torn, by the armed robbers.
She said that they inserted the ATM cards into the POS as soon as they supplied their pins. She explained that the armed robbers eventually withdrew N130, 000 from her account.
She explained that she only knew this fact when she visited her bank the next day as the armed robbers collected all their phones.
She said that one of them was caressing her body and she had cried begging him not to do anything to her.
She further testified that the armed robbers went away with her jewelleries, wrist watches, digital weigh scale, 7 pairs of socks, 8 pieces of Ankara fabrics and her husband’scar, a 2008 model highlander jeep.
As they left, the armed robbers asked one of them to stay behind and monitor the couple.
She narrated how the one left behind slapped her and her husband around, ransacked their fridge and bar and sat watching them while drinking their wine and eating the meat he brought out of their fridge.
Her words, before he left eventually, he warned us not untie ourselves as he could still come back. Out of fear, we stayed like that till daybreak because he threatened to kidnap my husband if we provoke him further. He was very ruthless with us. He told us that his boss said that we should go to Igbara-Oke and retrieve our car in the morning. He locked us inside the room and left”.
She stated that they got someone to help them open the door through the window when the day broke the next day and went to lodge a complaint at Okuta Elerinla police station and also at Police CID, both in Akure.
She said that they made statements at the police station and the police visited the scene of crime.
Then the police followed her husband to the place mentioned by the armed robbers where they could retrieve their car but they did not find it there.
She disclosed that the car was eventually found in Jos by the police during investigation.
Her words: “Someone called my husband the second day asking him if he was looking for his car. The person said that he saw his car with his particulars inside”.
She said that their phones were also recovered and that arrests were made by the police while they were invited to identify their property.
She explained that when they got to the police station and identified their phones, two out of the defendants; Sunday Ayodele and Adewale Oke began to beg her husband for forgiveness while they admitted that they were the ones who came to their house to rob.
She stated that the police discovered that the particulars of the car had been altered to reflect another person’s name and phone number but they were able to identify it.
She narrated further that the two men were taken before the Commissioner of Police and they also confessed before him and demonstrated before him the role they all played in the armed robbery.
The case was stalled due to some legal hitches and it was thereafter adjourned till the next day for continuation of hearing by the trial judge, Justice Adeyemi Fasanmi.