Housemaid slumps in court after receiving 28-year jail sentence for stealing

30-year-old Mary John, a housemaid in Lagos has received a 28 year jail sentence for stealing her mistress’ jewellery estimated at N35m.
John was said to have slumped after receiving the verdict, but was quickly resuscitated and carried out by prison warders.
In her defense, John said she was hypnotised by strangers she had met on the road and they made her lead them to her boss’s residence in Ajah as they broke through the burglar proof door to steal the items in July last year.
She also said they took her to an herbalist’s house and was told to keep it a secret else she dies.
But the magistrate, Aje Afunwa in her ruling said the defendant had changed her story from what was in her written statement where she actually confessed to the crime.
“In her evidence, she confessed to breaking the door, climbing the house and stealing the jewellery,” she said.
“I choose to believe more the defendant’s written statement than her oral evidence which is an attempt to shift the blame to another person. I believe her oral statement is a figment of her imagination.
“More so, hypnotism or superstition is a phenomenon which is not admissible in law.”