Hair stylist Jailed for Three Months in Lagos for stealing N1m wine

A 41-year-old hair stylist, Yusuf Adeola, has been sentenced to three months in prison without an option of fine for stealing bottles of wine worth N1 million from a supermarket in Lagos. The Magistrate, O. A. Daodu, delivered the verdict after the hair stylist pleaded guilty to the charge of theft.

The hair stylist, who lives in Ikota, Ajah, was arrested by the police on January 23, following a tip-off from a security guard at Kofa Hartley Supermarket in Ogudu, where he had been stealing wine for several months. The security guard, who works for Shepherd Hill Security Company, had noticed the hair stylist’s suspicious behaviour on the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) camera and confronted him on January 4, when he came to steal more bottles of wine.

The hair stylist confessed that he had stolen bottles of wine valued at N600,000 and N400,000 on different occasions and sold them to a woman in Apogbon Market on Lagos island for N500,000. He said he stole Martell Wine, a brand of cognac, in November last year. The prosecutor, Insp Sunday Bassey, said the hair stylist had committed an offence punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

The Magistrate said the hair stylist deserved to be punished for his crime, which had caused losses to the supermarket owner and deprived other customers of the opportunity to buy the wine. He said the sentence would serve as a deterrent to others who might want to engage in similar acts of theft. He also ordered the hair stylist to pay N1 million as restitution to the supermarket owner.