An 18yrs old housemaid who stole her boss’ N1.5m within just 2-and-half hours of being employed has been arrested alongside her accomplices – the 30-year-old man who married her mother, Gabriel Igbang and her mum, Joy Gabriel.
The maid, Happiness Gabriel, was said to have stolen the cash at her employer’s residence in Lagos, then proceeded to a bush in Ogun to bury her loot, before escaping to Benin, the Edo State capital.
It was gathered that Happiness was engaged by Mrs Bolanle Ibukunoluwa sometimes in May 2016, through one Alhaja popularly known as Iya Dolapo, as a housemaid and the monthly salary agreed upon was N7,000 to be paid in bulk at the end of the year.
On June 26, 2016, at about 5:30 pm, the maid (Happiness) moved into her employer’s house, on that fateful day, the woman (Mrs Bolanle) went out and came back at about 8:00pm only to discover that her new house-help is nowhere to be found.
She forced the gate opened and then discovered that her Lenovo phone valued at N20, 000 and the N1.5m she kept in her room was nowhere to be found. She rushed immediately to her neighbour’s place to ask about the whereabouts of her housemaid and they told her she left before 8:00 p.m. She later went to report the incident at Central Police Station.
Happiness was later apprehended in Benin, where she ran to, after giving her step father the money.
At first, her stepfather and her mother denied receiving any money from her, after much interrogation they confessed and Happiness took the police to the bush in Ogun where the sum of N300,000 was recovered and another N252, 500 was also recovered at another location in the bush at Ogun State.
Delivering her judgement, Magistrate Omoyele found the first defendant guilty of conspiracy and stealing and consequently sentenced her to 2-and-half years imprisonment without an option of fine.
Her step father was found guilty of the offence of receiving stolen property and was jailed one year without an option of fine.
