A Special Offences Court in Ikeja has sentenced a house help, Comfort Jacob, to four years imprisonment for stealing ₦500,000 and $12,000 from her employer’s residence. Her husband, Isaac Jacob, was also handed a one-year jail term for conspiring with her to carry out the theft.
Justice Rahman Oshodi delivered the judgement on Tuesday after the couple entered a plea bargain agreement and pleaded guilty to a revised two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing.
In his ruling, Justice Oshodi described Comfort’s actions as a serious betrayal of trust. He noted that the role of a domestic worker demands the highest level of integrity, which Comfort blatantly disregarded.
“Rather than uphold the duty entrusted to you, you took advantage of your privileged access to your employer’s home to steal large sums of money,” the judge said. “Crimes like this are, sadly, becoming too common, where domestic staff abuse the faith placed in them.”
He added that such breaches of trust have wider consequences, making it harder for honest job seekers to gain employment and damaging the essential trust on which domestic work relationships are built.
Comfort was sentenced to one year imprisonment for conspiracy and three years for stealing, with both sentences to run concurrently. The court also ruled that the prison term would take effect from April 13, 2022, the date of her remand.
The court further directed that all items recovered from the couple during the investigation be returned to the complainant, Mrs Omolara Dakore, as restitution.
The defendants were initially arraigned on May 10, 2023, on a six-count charge that included conspiracy, breaking and entering, and theft. They pleaded not guilty at the time.
During the trial, the prosecution, led by Mr Joseph Eboseremen, called one witness, Investigation Police Officer ASP Patrick Anthony, and tendered three exhibits, including confessional statements from both defendants. The statements, admitted as Exhibits B and C, followed a trial-within-trial to verify their admissibility.
Anthony testified that Mrs Dakore employed Comfort as a house help on February 9, 2022. Just two days later, on February 11, the complainant returned from church to find Comfort missing and a previously locked room in the house forced open.
She later discovered that over ₦500,000 and $12,000, kept in a white envelope, had been stolen, along with one of the keys to the premises. Efforts to locate Comfort proved futile until both she and her husband were tracked and arrested in Benin City on April 12, 2022, then transported back to Lagos for investigation.
The offences violated Sections 287(7) and 411 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.