3 Jailed 90 years for robbery
The Accra Circuit Court yesterday sentenced three persons to a total of 90 years’ imprisonment for engaging in two separate robberies.
They are Kwabena Badu, a bicycle repairer; Sampson Sam, an alcoholic beverage vendor, and Kwasi Debrah, a driver.
Badu and Sam had pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and robbery but they were found guilty after a full trial.
They are to serve 15 years and 35 years for conspiracy and robbery, respectively, and the sentences are to run concurrently, while Debrah was convicted on one count of robbery and is to serve 30 years.
According to the presiding judge, Mr Francis Obiri, the convicts’ pleas of not guilty were an afterthought because the prosecution had proved their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
He said Badu and Sam seemed not to show any remorse in what they did and stressed the need for the leadership of the country to set an agenda on how to educate the youth on the dangers of robbery.
Mr Obiri advised the youth to shun bad company that could lead them to acts such as robbery.
Facts of the first robbery
According to the facts of the case, about 11.20 p.m. on October 6, 2012, the complainant, who was in charge of a Nissan Almera taxi, with registration number GS 8066-12, had reported at the Mile 7 Police Station that Badu and Sam hired his taxi from Osu to Israel, near Achimota.
At a section of the road near the Israel Lorry Station, the two attacked the complainant and threatened him with a locally made pistol.
They overpowered the complainant and snatched the vehicle from him and proceeded in the direction of Koforidua.
When they got to a police checkpoint at Tinkong, they drove at top speed through the barrier and nearly killed one of the policemen on duty.
The police were compelled to chase them with another vehicle and, in the process; the convicts abandoned the complainant’s vehicle and went into the bush.
Luck eluded them when the inhabitants of the area assisted the police to arrest them.
They were later transferred to Accra for investigations, during which the complainant identified the accused persons as his assailants.
Badu further confessed to having snatched three Toyota Corollas and one Pontiac Vibe, along with the late notorious car snatchers Kwabena Takyi and Nana Kwabena Agyemang who died in one of their recent robbery expeditions.
Badu went ahead to reveal that the cars had been sold to a buyer in Kumasi.
Second Robbery
In the second robbery, the prosecution said the complainant was a hairdresser who lived along the Spintex Road, while the accused, Debrah, was a driver resident at Agbogbloshie.
About 4 a.m. on October 25, 2013, the complainant was walking home along the Okpoi Gonno Market High Street with her hand bag which contained two mobile phones, two ladies’ dresses, a pair of shorts and a mobile phone charger.
Suddenly, Debrah appeared on her and ordered her to surrender her bag or face the consequences.
In the process, Debrah violently snatched her bag, together with it contents, and took to his heels.
The complainant raised an alarm and the residents of the community came out to her aid and pursued him.
Debrah jumped into a certain house where he removed the two mobile phones into his pocket and dropped the bag.
The inmates of the house also woke up and began to pursue him, for which reason he scaled the wall again in an attempt to escape but he was arrested by the mob.
A search in his pockets revealed the two mobile phones.
He later led the mob to retrieve the bag and the rest of its contents from where he had hidden them in the house.
A further search in his pocket disclosed one screw driver and a plier.
Subsequently, he was handed over to the police, and during investigations, admitted the offence in his caution statement.