Osun Court remands theft suspect who attempted suicide to evade arrest

A Magistrate’s Court sitting in Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, has ordered the remand of a 24-year-old man, Bello Ayomide, for allegedly attempting to kill himself as police sought to arrest him for theft.

The police in the state brought Ayomide to court and accused him of stealing his co-worker’s phone and withdrawing money from his bank account with the stolen phone.

Ayomide, who informed the court that he is a single father of one, said he had separated from the woman who gave birth to his son.

The Guardian gathered that the defendant was working for a herbal medicine company in Osogbo, where he allegedly stole his colleague’s Itel phone.

Having worked with the complainant, Hillary Austine, for some months, Ayomide was said to have mastered Austine’s Opay account details and password.

Ayomide allegedly robbed Austine of his phone and fraudulently withdrew the sum of ₦390,000 from the victim’s bank account.

Security sources said the accused stopped going to work, and efforts made by Austine to retrieve his phone and money proved abortive, as the defendant reportedly left his house and fled outside Osogbo to evade arrest.

Findings revealed that the police tracked Ayomide and later found him inside a hotel in Osogbo with a lady suspected to be a commercial sex worker.

“The moment he discovered that the police were close to him, the suspect (Ayomide) quickly drank hypo whitener and disinfectant in a bid to take his life and evade arrest,” a police source told The Guardian in confidence.

Nonetheless, Ayomide was apprehended in his hotel room and rushed to a hospital, where he was urgently attended to.

After he survived the attempted suicide, the police brought Ayomide before an Osogbo Magistrate’s Court and slammed him with a five-count charge relating to theft, fraud, and attempted suicide.

The police prosecutor, Jacob Adekunle, informed the court that Ayomide committed the offenses on January 26, 2025, at about 11:00 AM at Ota-Efun area, Osogbo.

The charge read: “That you, Bello Ayomide, on January 26, 2025, did steal one Itel S24 handset valued at Two Hundred and Ten Thousand Naira only (₦210,000.00), the property of one Hillary Austine, and transferred a cash sum of Three Hundred and Ninety Thousand Naira only (₦390,000.00) from OPAY Microfinance bank with the account number 9119305080, property of one Hillary Austine.

“That you, Bello Ayomide, on the same date, time, and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District, did fraudulently obtain a cash sum of Fifty Thousand Naira (₦50,000.00) only from one Hillary Austine, with the pretense of returning the money within two weeks, which you knew full well was false.

“You did fraudulently obtain a cash sum of Fifteen Thousand Naira (₦15,000.00) only from one Kasali Rofiat, a female, with the pretense of selling a stolen phone, which you knew full well was false.

“That you, Bello Ayomide, on the 2nd day of February, 2025, at about 10:00 PM at Mingles Hotel, Jaye area, Osogbo, in Osogbo Magisterial District, did attempt to commit suicide by taking Hypo chemical to end your life.”

Akintunde told the court that the accused person committed offenses contrary to and punishable under sections 327, 383(1), 419, and 430, and punishable under section 390(9) of the Criminal Code, Cap 34 Vol. 11 Laws of Osun State of Nigeria 2002.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the allegations.

Ayomide’s counsel, Najite Okobe, urged the court to grant him bail.

Magistrate A. O. Odeleye expressed displeasure over the alleged attempt by the accused to kill himself, saying since none of his relatives were in court, she would not grant him bail.

Odeleye ordered that Ayomide be remanded in a correctional centre and asked him to produce his relatives on March 20, the adjourned date