A 26-year-old man, Samuel Meyiwa has been dragged before a Yaba Magistrate’s Court for allegedly using N388,000 belonging to his employer to gamble.

The defendant was arraigned on Thursday before Magistrate A.O Salawu on one count of stealing preferred against him by the Lagos State Police Command.

It was gathered in court that Meyiwa was employed in March as a driver who sells sachet water with a truck for a company in Bariga but has been using part of the money from his daily sales to gamble without the knowledge of his employer.

According to the complainant, sometime in October, he went to sell sachet water worth N88,000 and did not return the money but came days later to tell his boss that customers owed him, an act that gradually became a habit.

However, in November, Meyiwa drove off as usual with bags of sachet water worth N300,000, supplied all the goods but went to bet with the money and, when he lost, ran off.

All means to reach him proved abortive until he was sighted in another company where he had started working and was arrested by the police.

Oriabure told the court that Meyiwa committed the offence between March and November 2023 at Okusanya Street, off Adebayo Road, Bariga, adding that the offence contravened Section 287 (7) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2015.

The charge read, “That you Samuel Meyiwa, sometime March to November 2023 at Bariga in the Yaba Magisterial District did steal the sum of three hundred thousand naira cash from Freedom Pure Water Company situated at No 10 NG Okusanya street off Adebayo Road, Bariga, where you were employed as a driver and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 287 (7) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2015.”

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge preferred against him.

Following his plea, the magistrate granted him bail in the sum of N100,000 with two responsible sureties in like sum and then adjourned the case till January 25, 2024, for trial.