A 28-year-old steward, Sani Murtala, on Monday narrated before a Grade 1 Area Court in Karu, Abuja how he gained access to his employer’s Automated Teller Machine card and password.
A resident of Asokoro, Abuja, Murtala, who pleaded guilty to the offence of theft, told the court that he found the Guaranty Trust Bank ATM card belonging to his boss in a colleague’s room.
He said: “On that day, our boss sent another member of staff to make withdrawals for him and the guy in question dropped the card carelessly.
“I walked into the guy’s room to get something and I sighted the ATM card, then something told me to carry it.
“Then I remembered hearing my boss telling him the password over the phone and I was close by.
“It’s from there I took note of the password.”
The Presiding Judge, Hassan Ishaq, then sentenced the accused to four months in prison but gave him an option to pay N10,000 fine after the accused had begged the court to tamper justice with mercy.
Ishaq also ordered the accused to refund the sum of N22,000 as compensation to the nominal complainant.
The judge warned employers who were in the habit of sending their domestic staff to make ATM withdrawals on their behalf to be careful with such transactions.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Inspector Phillip Akogwu, had told the court that the matter was reported at Apo Police Station, Abuja by one Tijani Mohammed of 11 Jimmy Carter Street, Asokoro, Abuja on February 6.
Akogwu said the complainant reported to the station that he was sent to withdraw money from the ATM by his boss.
He told the court that few minutes after the accused returned from the bank, the card went missing from his room where he kept it.
He said an in-house search was conducted and the bank was notified of the loss of the ATM, but that the accused had already withdrew N22,000 from the account.
Akogwu added that the accused later confessed to the crime during police investigation, noting that the offence contravened Section 287 of the Penal Code.
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
