Police arrest housemaid, boyfriend for robbing her boss and staging her kidnap

A 27-year-old housemaid, Mariam Acheme, and four persons have been arrested for robbing the housemaid’s employer and staging her kidnap on November 26, 2012.

According to the Police Public Relations Officer of the Lagos state command, Ngozi Braide, “the housemaid invited her boyfriend to her boss’ house when the madam had gone out. On getting to the house, the boyfriend and another person ransacked the entire house. They vandalised the doors and also stole all the valuables. The housemaid then padlocked the gate from outside and fled with them.”

It was gathered that when the owner of the house arrived, she discovered that all her valuables and the house maid were gone. She immediately proceeded to the Bode Thomas Police Division to report the case.

The PPRO further disclosed that “a few days later, someone contacted the housemaid’s boss and informed her that Acheme had been kidnapped. The madam returned to the police and told them that some men called and said they had kidnapped the housemaid. The men asked for N5m and said if the money was not paid, they would not release her. The housemaid spoke to her ‘madam’ on the phone, crying and telling her that she was being tortured by the kidnappers and urged her boss to pay the ransom immediately.

The Divisional Police Officer, Bode Ojajuni, immediately swung into action. Detectives at the station were able to establish contact with the kidnappers and urged them to collect N1m. The kidnappers then sent a bank account number which the money should be paid into.

Through the bank account number which belonged to one Prosper Tatou, a bricklayer, the policemen traced the owner to Agbara area of Ogun State and arrested him.

After being drilled, Tatou claimed he knew nothing about the kidnap but led the police to the hideout of the other suspects. He confessed that his brother, Jean Mari, had asked him to send his bank account number because he needed to receive some money from someone.

“Tatou then led us to a deserted building where his brother lives. At the house, we were able to arrest those who masterminded the purported kidnap but the detectives were however shocked when they saw the housemaid in the compound. That was when we discovered that she connived with her boyfriend to commit the crime,” the PPRO concluded.

Acheme has however denied conniving with the kidnappers. The maid claimed that although she had invited her boyfriend to come and visit her when the incident occurred, she had no clue of his intentions.

Her boyfriend, Dansu also claimed to be innocent, claiming it was his friend, Femi, who is now at large, that planned the whole thing.

Meanwhile, the PPRO has warned employers of domestic servants to be careful with the kind of people they hire, adding that cases of crimes being committed by domestic servants seem to be on the rise.