Meet Abiola Akinremi, Nigerian jailed in the UK for stealing £19,650 from vulnerable patients
An African administrator in a care home in the United Kingdom was sentenced to prison for illegally withdrawing funds from the savings of vulnerable patients at the facility.
According to the Evening Standard, Abiola Akinremi, 41, was sentenced to seven months in prison for stealing £19,650 from residents of Bostall House in Abbey Wood, southeast London.
According to the media site, the mother of three began stealing from patients when she needed money for daycare and used the stolen earnings to fund her lifestyle.
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Mrs. Akinremi, who pled guilty to three counts of fraud by abuse of position, denied collecting money from residents until the trial began.
She admitted taking £19,650 from three residents of the facility over the course of eight months.
Mrs. Akinremi was informed by Judge Angela Rafferty KC that it was a “repeated and planned course of conduct and a very serious breach of trust of vulnerable people.”
According to Prosecutor Robert Levack, the facility handles the patients’ financial affairs.
He stated that the institution is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and that occupants are not permitted to leave Bostall House without the presence of a member of staff or a family member.
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“People who live in the home are all vulnerable; they all have different conditions and are detained under the Mental Health Act or other laws.” “It’s a 24-hour facility,” Mr Levack explained.
The administrator stated that her colleagues at the facility were attempting to “pin the blame” on her.
Ranjeet Dulay, the defendant’s legal counsel, stated that “Ms. Akinremi is only responsible for her own conduct” while pointing to proof of money being taken from residents during times when Mrs. Akinremi was dismissed.
Ms. Dulay stated that the administrator committed fraud because she was depressed and wanted money for daycare.
“It was an opportunistic offense at first, but she continued to engage in it,” the lawyer explained.
Mrs. Akinremi, she said, worked at another care facility after being fired from Bostall House, and she has been “trying to make amends and put into the type of community that she stole from.”
