According to the Punch Newspaper, five domestic workers have been arraigned before an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court in Lagos for allegedly breaking into their employer’s room and carting away her gold jewellery valued at N105m.

The accused, Segun Akintola,49; Tomisin Alade ,28; Felicia Musa,23; Amaka Irozuru,38; and Zakara Yau,38, were arraigned on five counts bordering on conspiracy, Housebreaking, stealing and possession of stolen items.
The five domestic workers conspired among themselves and entered into the bedroom of their employer, Mrs Oluyemisi Wada, who had travelled out of the country, and stole her gold jewellery worth N105m. They committed the offences with others still at large in Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos.

He said one of the defendants, a housemaid, left the house to an unknown destination for a week before the personal assistant to the complainant got to know about the stolen jewellery.
The prosecutor stated, “The PA to the complainant received a phone call from her from the United Kingdom to retrieve bedroom keys from one of the defendants, who was a cook, in order to check the room.”

The PA met the complainant’s bedroom door ajar and upon entering, he discovered that her safe containing her gold jewelry valued at N105m had been carted away by an unknown person.
“On the same day, he said housemaid called the PA with a foreign phone number and told him that she did not know how she found herself at the Ghana-Togo border.”

“The police saw other defendants from the CCTV footage watching the premises to know if the coast was clear for the housemaid, who is the prime suspect, to come out from the house before exiting the main gate.”

TAKEAWAYS
This was a well-planned crime amongst the five domestic workers. Here are a few takeaways for our learnings:
• Never allow house help clean up your room when you are not at home. It is a time they search your room to know where valuable things are kept and waiting for the right time/opportunity to operate and run away
• Never talk about money transactions or cost of your jewelries or valuables in presence of your domestic staff
• Those closest to you are the most likely to know your weak points and are more likely to tempted to do you harm
• Never employ a domestic staff without conducting proper background checks and due diligence on them (It is advisable to outsource it to professionals)
• Do not put too much trust on anyone especially your domestic staff, have an extra pair of eyes and eyes solidly on the ground.
• Ensure your domestic workers have at least 2 confirmed references


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