A Twitter user who identifies as Whittney Brown has accused the owner and the staff of PJAY Mart, a supermarket in the Osapa London area of Lagos State, of assaulting her and her friends on Monday, November 21, 2022.

Brown, via a thread of tweets on Sunday, said some of her friends made N3,950 online payment to the store on the 20th for goods she purchased, but when the store attendants claimed not to have seen it, they made the payment again.

She returned with them to the store the following day to ask for a confirmation of the first transaction and a refund, but a scuffle ensued afterwards, and the glass entry door broke.

Brown said the store owner called police officers to cart her and her friends away, and they were made to pay N150,000 for the broken door and N40,000 to the police for what was dubbed ‘bail’.

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Brown’s tweets read, “Hello everyone! I’m tweeting from a place of hurt. It’s been a week now and we haven’t got justice still. On the 21st of November 2022, my friends and I were assaulted.

“The day before, being the 20th of November, 2022, two of my friends went to get few stuff we’d use to prep dinner from a supermarket close to the estate (PJAY MART) in Osapa London. After purchasing the items, they made a transfer of N3,950, as that was the total amount of all the items they purchased, to the store’s account, but the store attendants claimed not to have got it.

“My friend was debited and she showed them proof, but they claimed not to have received it still and kept her and my other friend waiting for confirmation for over two solid hours. One of the store attendants later gave them her personal account to resend the money there again.

“They transferred another sum of N3,950 and it went through immediately. The store attendant then said they should come back the following day and even gave them her cell digits so that she’d inform them as soon as they received the first money they sent.”

Brown said she and her friends went out for a beach hangout the day after, returned to the store on their way back and met the store attendant they paid to.

She said they also met the store owner, but instead of resolving the disputed transaction, the store owner got them arrested.

“On getting there, we saw the store attendant that gave us her cell digits and took our details standing just by the suya spot outside,” Brown added. “So we asked her what was going on cos we called her earlier during the day and she was sounding very cold on the phone. She claimed to have been sleeping at the time we called.

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“The store owner was in the premises and overheard our convo, then called the store attendant and asked her what the problem was and she explained, then her reply to us was ‘who are you people to tell me to call my bank or confirm any transaction? I haven’t got any money. If you like, shout and bring down the building, I don’t care.’

“She then instructed all of the staff present to keep mute and ignore us, and she drove off. The other store attendant that was present when the whole incident took place was outside as well, so we asked her what the next line of action would be, how possible it was for us to get a refund and all of that. She hissed and walked out on us, obviously adhering to her boss’ instructions. We were livid, and we followed her into the store to ask her what the disrespect was for.

“Now, other store attendants were present. The male store attendants started pushing us out of the store. We were trying to get a hold of ourselves cos it was unexpected. There were a couple of plumbing pipes at the entrance, and one of the male attendants picked it up and started using it to flog one of my friends.

“We were all shocked at the sudden outburst and tried to stop him, but he ended up hitting the three of us with it instead. My friend, who was already bleeding, struggled with him as they both held the glass entrance door and it broke.

“The other store attendants present that couldn’t say a word or stop their colleague from attacking us called the store owner immediately and she came back to the store. We told her we were assaulted. My friend was already bleeding at the time.

“I showed her my broken screen cos he threw my phone on the ground when I was recording him. My friend’s gold earring went missing as well. She said she didn’t care about any of that and we duly deserved the assault, and we had to pay for her broken door.

“The store owner made some calls and shortly after, a man showed up with about two armed police officers to pick us up. We told her we wouldn’t go alone and the guy that assaulted us needed to be there as well and her response was ‘I called the police to come pick you guys up, when you call your own you can come and pick him up.’

“We went with the armed officers to the station. On our way, the man that came with the officers stopped halfway and asked if we didn’t want to settle with them by paying N250,000 for the broken door, and we refused.

“We said we’d only pay if it was a 50/50 arrangement, or they let us bring our own technician to fix it, because if there wasn’t any outburst from them, it wouldn’t lead to the door being damaged. He said the store owner didn’t want any of that; it was either we pay N250,000 in full [sic].”

Brown said the police officers locked them up in a cell that evening and kept them until the store owner came back by noon of the next day to collect N150,000.

She said, “The store owner came to the police station to see the DPO of Ilasan Division (the station we were detained in) at 12 noon and we were called out.

“She said she’d only accept the payment of N150,000 for the door. We made the transfer of N150,000 even after offering to bring in our technician for the umpteenth time.”

After paying off the store owner, she said the police demanded a N90,000 payment lest they charged them to court.

“We were still locked up. The police officers said we would be charged to court for malicious damage and transferred to Panti if we didn’t pay the sum of N90,000 for bail, which was N30,000 each for the three of us. After much pleading, they said they’d only collect N40,000, nothing more nothing less,” Brown added.

“We paid it, which was total of N190,000, and they made us sign an undertaking that we’d never step foot into the store (PJAY MART) before they released us.”

FIJ called the supermarket’s known phone number, but it was unreachable. FIJ also sent a text message to the number, but as of press time, it was not replied to.

When FIJ called Benjamin Hundeyin, spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, he told our reporter the police was investigating the matter and he would provide updates soon.