Estate agent arraigned over N215,000 fraud

A 31-year-old estate agent, Emmanuel Durueke, was yesterday arraigned at an Ikeja magistrate court, Lagos, for allegedly defrauding an accommodation seeker of the sum of N215,000 on the pretext of procuring him a one-bedroom apartment. Durueke, a resident of No. 14, Ishola Bello St., Ojodu, Lagos, is facing a three-count charge of breach of peace, stealing […]

A 31-year-old estate agent, Emmanuel Durueke, was yesterday arraigned at an Ikeja magistrate court, Lagos, for allegedly defrauding an accommodation seeker of the sum of N215,000 on the pretext of procuring him a one-bedroom apartment.

Durueke, a resident of No. 14, Ishola Bello St., Ojodu, Lagos, is facing a three-count charge of breach of peace, stealing and fraud.

Police prosecutor, Sergeant Kenrich Nomayo, told the court that the accused committed the offences sometime in October this year at the Afeez area of Ogba, Lagos.

Nomayo added that the accused conducted himself in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace by obtaining the sum of N215,000 from the complainant but failed to provide him an accommodation as he promised.

“The accused claimed to be an agent and obtained N215,000 under a false law from the complainant with a promise to lease out a one- bedroom apartment to him. The complainant later discovered that the accused deceived him when he found out that the accused had no apartment to lease out,” the prosecutor said.

Durueke, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The magistrate, Mrs T. A. Ojo, granted him a N100,000 bail, with two responsible sureties in like sum and adjourned the case till January 10, 2019 for mention.