A 10-year-old boy, Victor Tarekedomoni has revealed how he was lured into armed-robbery at a very tender age.
He made the confession when he was being paraded by the police in Bayelsa State during the week.
Victor disclosed that he was specialized in robbing victims of phones at bus stops and breaking into houses by squeezing through anti-burglary iron-bars, to ransack the homes, during which he would cart away jewellery, money, phones, and other valuables.
He also confessed that he had led several successful robbery operations before nemesis caught up with him by the police.
The boy told newsmen that he got into the illicit business through the help of his uncle, having already lost his parents at a tender age.
He disclosed further that his uncle taught him how to rob and sent him on several occasions to rob in the neighbourhood.
He said “There was one time my uncle sent me to an office to steal a Television and their computer, which I did. I was attending the Universal Basic Primary Community Education School at Ovom as a primary 4 pupil until I dropped out of school”.
“What happened was that my uncle went to rob, but when the police came looking for him, he ran away from the house. So, I dropped out of school and joined a robbery gang” he added.
He also said “I have been involved in several armed robberies; when we go for an operation, the older members of the gang will lift me up the fence, I will jump down and pass through the burglarproof bars, enter the house, ransack the place, take money, jewellery and then escape. After the robbery, they will give me N1000 or N1500, which I used to feed myself daily. and just to survive for the day”.
Victor who hails from Egaibiri community in Sagbama Local Government Area, Bayelsa State said further to police:
“I have robbed over 20 victims. I stole their phones at bus stops or along the street.
“It was when I spent one month in SARS custody, I decided to escape and squeezed through the iron-bars of the cell. I always slept in the store at Arietalin Street, Ovom, before policemen re-arrested me at Sandy area in Yenagoa.”
“If the State government or the Governor of Bayelsa State can come to my rescue and train me, I can be a leader in Bayelsa State tomorrow’ the boy said to the police.
“I am talented and blessed but I didn’t have parental care. That is why I went into robbery and joined a gang. I am a member of Greenlander cult group. I don’t want to go back to robbing again. I want to be a good citizen of Bayelsa State and Nigeria. He said
In his request for mercy, he pleaded “I want the public to forgive me because it was my uncle who introduced me to robbery. I started stealing before I joined the gang. The names of the other six members of the gang who are still on run are Junior, Finefine, Daddy Boy, Godspower, Kempade and Goodtimes”.
