A pregnant woman, Precious Ebuka, arraigned in a Grade1 Area Court, Karmo, Abuja, for criminal trespass and theft of N80,000, on Thursday pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Ebuka, a resident of Agwan Idoma, Dape Village, Abuja, however, pleaded guilty to trespass and theft of N300 only.
She pleaded not guilty to the charge of stealing N80,000, admitting only that she truly broke into his house and stole N300.
“I did not see any N80,000, I only stole N300,’’ she cried.
The defendant pleaded that she stole that money because she was “terribly hungry’’, one of the many symptoms experienced during pregnancy.
During police investigation, the N300 was recovered from her.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Zannah Dalhatu, told the court that Samuel Akoji reported the matter at the Life Camp Police Station, Abuja, on August 9.
Dalhatu said the complainant alleged that the defendant broke into his house when he went to work and his wife went to the market.
“The complainant and defendant live in the same compound; when Akoji’s wife returned home, she noticed that her room was not looking the way she left it.
“She also discovered that N80,000 was missing,’’ Dalhatu told the court.
He said the defendant used her own key, which is similar to Akoji’s, to unlock the padlock on his door.
The prosecutor said the offences contravened sections 348 and 288 of the Penal Code.
Counsel to the defendant, Charity Nwosu, applied for her bail, and assured the court that the defendant would not jump bail.
The presiding officer, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq, granted her bail in sum of N5,000 with one surety in like sum.
Sadiq said that the surety must reside within the court’s jurisdiction, and adjourned the case till September 7 for hearing.
