An 18-year old house help, Joy Obi, who allegedly attempted to abduct her employer’s son, was on Tuesday arraigned before a Karu Senior Magistrates’ Court in Abuja.
Obi, a resident of Mararaba, Nasarawa State, is facing a two-count charge of joint act and attempt to commit abduction, before Senior Magistrate Omolola Akindele.
The police prosecutor, Sergeant Mohammed Garba, told the court that the case was reported at the Garki Police Station on May 22 by Joy Dauda of Area 8, Garki, Abuja.
Garba said the accused person and her sister, Peggy Obi, now at large, approached the complainant to employ Joy Obi as a house help.
He said: “The complainant, a career woman, engaged the services of the accused person on an agreed monthly salary of N7,000.
“The complainant did not know that the two sisters had a game plan before seeking employment in her house.
“They attempted to abduct the complainant’s two-year-old son but luck ran out of them when their plan was reported by one Abigail Thomas who overheard Obi discussing it on phone.
“The accused person was arrested by the police, and confessed, during interrogation, that it was her sister who lured her into attempting to abscond with the child.”
Garba said Peggy ran away when she discovered that her sister had been arrested.
The prosecutor said the offence was punishable under the provisions of sections 97 and 95 of the Penal Code.
The prosecutor did not object to request for her bail.
The accused person, who represented herself in court, pleaded not guilty after the charges were read to her and she asked the court for bail.
Senior magistrate Akindele granted her bail in the sum of N500,000 and two sureties in like sum who must be civil servants.
She said the sureties must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court and their residential and work addresses verified by the prosecutor before her release.
Akindele adjourned the case to June 10 for further hearing.
