Yoruba boy: Hunger Drove Me Into Stealing

The suspect, Marvelous Morris at the court yesterday

A 27-year old theft suspect, Marvellous Moris, has allegedly confessed in court that hunger drove him into stealing a handset in a cosmetic store.
The suspect protested Monday at a Lagos court for being charged to court after the police had recovered the stolen item from him.
He said he was not a big-time thief and the police should not have charged him to court because they have recovered the phone from him, adding that he only   stole  it to sell and buy food to eat.
Morris blamed the police for his predicament, confessing that he had to steal in order to make ends meet.
He said nobody, including the police, bothered to ask him whether he had eaten the day he stole.
“I did not eat a day before I stole and  there was no hope of eating that day. So I tried to find a way to survive,” he said.
Morris said he pleaded with the police to  release  him because he was  not a big-time thief but they went ahead to charge him to court.
“Everybody is interested in calling me a thief and nobody knows what led me to stealing,” he lamented.
The Edo-State born suspect explained that he is from a poor family and he had looked for job but did not find any, so he had to steal to survive.
Morris was arrested at 2, Temidara Street LIasu Road , Egbe Idimu, Idimu, Lagos where he allegedly stole a Samsung hand set worth N18,000 belonging to  James Nwanuji, under false pretense that he wanted to buy some items in the cosmetic store. He was caught later when he  allegedly went to  sell it.
Morris was handed over to the police at Idimu Division for theft and the handset was tendered as exhibit.
When asked whether he went to the shops to buy items, he said he  went there only to steal.
Morris is  now facing one-count charge of stealing before the court where he  pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The presiding Magistrate, Mr P. E. Nwaka, granted him bail in the sum of N50,000 with two sureties in like sum.
He was remanded in prison custody because he did not meet his bail condition.
The matter was adjourned till 13 November for mention.
—Cyriacus Izuekwe