The lone Exhibit tendered in this case is the statement of the Defendant
which is Exhibit A.
PW1 stated that he is a Banker with First Bank of Nigeria PIc and that he is
the ATM custodian with the said Bank at its Airport Road, Effurun Branch" He
stated that he knows the Defendant. Also, that his duty as ATM custodian is to
load the ATM machine with cash and then ensure that it pays money, cash to
customers. Furthermore, that Fridays of every week, he would then hand over his
duties as custodian to another staff who would then be on duty for the weekend,
and, then hand over back to him on lVonday.
PW1 then stated that on the lBth of February,2022, he handed over duty
to one Osunbor Vitalis. He further stated that himself and another staff work
together, and, then hand over to two other staff. He stated that he has a
combination, a set of codes that gives a person access to the ATM, while his
other colleague has the key. He stated that on the 18th of February,2022, himself
and his unnamed colleague, who had the key then handed over duties on the
lBth of February,2022, to Osunbor Vitalis with the expectation to resume on the
21't of February,2022.
PW1 then narrated to this Court that on lhe 21't of February, 2022 as at
7.30am the resumption time, the said Vitalis Osunbor had not resumed, and, did
not resume ever again. PW1 stated that he made a report to the Head of the
Branch of the Bank at B.00am, who then went into the Bank's vault, brought the
spare keys to the ATM vault, to enable them gain access to the ATIV, and upon
ascertainment of the quantity or amount of cash available, noted that over the
sum of Eleven Million Naira was missing. PWI stated further that he made a
statement to the police, and that after the Bank's internal investigation and audit,
the amount of money missing was purport at Eleven tVlillion, Four Hundred
Thousand Naira. PW1 stated that he handed over his duties to Vitalis, while one
Joy handed over her duties to the Defendant alongside eight keys for the eight
ATtMs
Under cross examination, PW1 stated that he did not give the combination
to the Defendant, and that only the keys were handed over to him. He stated that
without the combination, the vault cannot be opened. He stated that himself and
another person loaded cash into the said ATIV machine. He stated further that on
that very day, he loaded some cassettes along with the cash in the ATNI , which
according to him on the day of the incident was more than eleven Vlillion, four
Hundred Thousand Naira was missing. PW1 stated that he is not the CSO of that
Branch of the Bank. He stated that it is not his duty to fix a faulty ATM machine,
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