The Lagos Police Command has arraigned a painter, Godwin Bassey, for absconding with a customer’s car in the Ejigbo area of the state.
The Police said Bassey was arrested for allegedly stealing a Toyota Corolla car worth N5m, belonging to one Amuta Friday.
The 27-year-old painter was arraigned on two counts of stealing before Magistrate Patrick Nwaka who held a brief for Magistrate Balogun at a Magistrates’ Court sitting in the Yaba area of Lagos state.
The prosecutor, Chekwube Okeh, told the court that the defendant committed the offence sometime in March 2023.
Okeh said Friday, on March 9, 2023, hired and paid Bassey N32,000 to repaint his Corolla car, a job that would take three days according to the agreement between both men.
Bassey, however, left with the car on that day and since then, all efforts made to reach him proved abortive until he was arrested.
According to Okeh, the offences contravened Sections 411 and 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.
“That you, Godwin Bassey, and others still at large, sometime in March 2023, in Ejigbo, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did steal a black Toyota Corolla valued at N5m, property of one Amuta Friday,” the charges read in part.
“You thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.”
Bassey, however, pleaded not guilty to the count charges after which Magistrate Nwaka granted him bail in the sum of N1m with two responsible sureties in like sum.
Nwaka also adjourned the case till July 13, 2023.
