A seven-year-old primary one pupil has been nabbed after he broke into a house in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, and carted away two phones and N4,000.
Nigerian Tribune reports that the minor also cooked rice, ate all the meat in the pot and drank the milk he found in the house, located in the Olomi, Ibadan.
He’s said to have opened the padlock with a key to gain entry into the room of one of the wives, Mrs. Adijat Fatai.
He allegedly broke into the woman’s wardrobe, rifled through her clothing, and took two mobile phones, N4,000, and other items.
The child proceeded inside the younger wife’s room as well, but he was unable to discover anything worth stealing. He was reported to have entered the kitchen, cooked rice in a kettle with a camp gas and ate all the meat he found in the pot.
After the first meal, he reportedly drank the milk he also found, and began to cook rice again.
He was said to have kept the phones with a woman in the neighborhood and ran out of the elderly woman’s house, telling her that he would be back despite her query on how the phones came about.
By the time he returned to his place of operation, the rice he had put on fire had gotten burnt, but this did not stop him from eating the remnants.
He was said to be on this when he heard footsteps and quickly ran to the backyard.
The boy was caught last Thursday, June 23, and during interrogation, he confessed to having given his grandmother the N2,000 he stole.
He also admitted to opening the front door with a cutlass, cooking rice twice, drinking milk, and returning to the house after giving his grandmother the N2000.
“Unfortunately for me, one of those living in the house met me there but I told a lie that it was a boy who came there to steal, I have broken into four houses in the last two days before I was caught today (Thursday).” He said.
However, Mrs Adijat Fatai, whose room was burgled by the suspect, said he stole N4,000 from there and not N2000 as he claimed.
Musibau, one of the sons of Mr Hassan Fatai, whose house was burgled, said,
“The boy ran to the backyard when he heard footsteps. We met all doors ajar and saw him at the backyard. When asked about who went into the house, he said it was a boy. He said he knew the boy and took us somewhere but we found nobody. He told us again that he knew where the boy kept the flask in which he put the rice he cooked. He took us there and brought out the flask.
“He promised to bring the boy to us if he sees him. We became suspicious that he must know something about the house-breaking and stealing. We told him that we suspected him and would report him to the police. That was how he started confessing that he was the one who broke in.”
The vigilante commandant of Oluyole Local Government, Olusegun Idowu, told Tribune that he and his men had been in search of the boy’s father, Ahmed Rasheed, said to a commercial motorcycle operator.
Rasheed reportedly promised to remove his son from the neighborhood after learning of his crime and acknowledged that the law would be allowed to take its course if he refused to do so or if his son returned to the neighborhood to commit another theft.
Meanwhile, the victims said they decided against reporting the case to the police because of the boy’s age.
