Church thief grabbed

Janet Duker, a suspected church thief was yesterday arrested at the Rev. Ernest Bruce Memorial Methodist Church, Adabraka in Accra.

But for the intervention of the head pastor of the church, she would have been lynched.

As her modus operandi, Janet Duker moves from church to church, pilfering every valuable she can lay hands on.

The lady’s operations for yesterday started at the Star of The Sea Catholic Church, Dansoman Last Stop, where she succeeded in stealing a bag belonging to a certain Georgina Obeng, the contents of which included two mobile phones, some money and miscellaneous items.

After that escapade, Janet sneaked out, took the next available bus to Adabraka and landed at Ernest Bruce Church where she ran out of luck.

The congregants gave her a dose of thorough beating for daring to steal in the house of the Lord.

The Dansoman victim least expected to lay hands on her handbag again when her husband, a teacher in one of Accra’s girls’ senior high schools, had a call from the Ernest Bruce Memorial Methodist Church at Adabraka about the arrest of a thief, one whose booty, a mobile phone had his number.

At the Adabraka church, she had attempted stealing another bag belonging to a certain Georgina Dadzie and was nabbed by agitated church members.

On reaching the Adabraka church, all the way from Dansoman in the company of his wife, the teacher discovered to his surprise the stolen handbag.

A search of the bag led to the discovery of the two mobile phones.

The head pastor was calling numbers he found on one of the phones until one of the persons he called chanced to be the husband of Georgina Obeng, the first victim.

The suspect said she spent only 50 pesewas of the money in the bag.

The head pastor was initially in a dilemma when the arrest was made finding it difficult to hand her over to the Police.

He offered her a seat in his office and some food was even provided to the suspect as he counseled her.

She was unable to eat the food preferring the accompanying drinks rather.

The victim’s attempt at having the suspect moved to the Adabraka Police Station was not an easy one as the head pastor was not too enthused about the police option.

It would appear that the suspect had specialized in stealing from churches having especially hopped from Dansoman to Adabraka within a short time. The Police are investigating the case.