A 400 level student of the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Emmanuel Dominic, has been arrested by the police in Calabar, Cross River State, for allegedly stealing N300, 000 from a fruit seller who is saving towards her education in Calabar.
The fruit seller who pleaded anonymity, revealed that the final year student has been coming around her business place and patronizes her frequently.
She said:
“He patronizes me frequently, he usually relaxes with us. It all started with his frequent patronage and friendliness, sometimes he will be in possession of my phone in the name of collecting music at times movies, at times I do ask him to help charge my phone for me in that barbing salon (pointing at the barbers shop adjacent to her fruit stand) where we all do”.
“I saved that money for my school issues because I have finished since two years ago, I did my project and all that is left to do my clearance which includes my outstanding fees and is the major reason I am doing this business and saving that money in my UBA account. Recently my partner went to the bank to use the ATM to withdraw some money to solve an urgent issue and upon reaching there the machine kept telling him insufficient funds”.
“We went to the bank (UBA Calabar road branch, the one opposite Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHEDC) for enquiry and discovered that severally recharge cards ranging from 5000 plus and at times transfer have been done from my account to another using my phone.
They advised us to keep cool not to scare the person and think carefully. When the records were shown to me and I thought over it and then discovered that Dominic is the one behind it, some days he usually pass and would pretend not to notice us one day I ran after him and held his shirt asking him why he did what he did to me, he denied but because of the drama people came and at the end to prove his innocence he went to the bank with us and eventually it was his number that appeared in the many recharge card purchase and his friend’s account number that he does transfer my money to.
At the end he opened up and told us that he used the money to solve some problems”
According to CrossRiverWatch, findings reveal that the several transactions Dominic allegedly did from the fruit sellers account were within the period of 16th May, 2017 and 15th June, 2017.
The account Dominic usually transfer the money to belongs to one of his course mate, Otu whom the suspect, who is the only son of his mother, usually tells that his uncle is sending money through his account and when it drops, Otu does the withdrawal and hands over but when Dominic was caught, he sent Otu a text saying he shouldn’t go to his bank that all the money he’s been withdrawing for him is stolen.
While still at the bank, upon Dominic’s confession, his mother fainted. She later returned a hundred thousand Naira and wrote undertaken to pay back the remaining sum in three installments beginning from 19th June, 2017.
