Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Five jailed 148 years for robbery

July 14, 2008 (Page 43)

THE Accra Fast Track High Court yesterday sentenced five persons to a total of 148 years imprisonment with hard labour after it found them guilty of conspiracy and robbery charges.
The convicts robbed their victim at gunpoint at Lashibi, a suburb of Accra, on May 5, 2002 and made away with cash and items valued at GH¢9,200.
Four of the convicts, namely, Isaac Thompson, alias Papa, 38; Wisdom Kworshie Akpeke, 24; Kwame Akuffu, 30, and Dela Anyigba, 28, were each sentenced to a term of 30 years imprisonment with hard labour.
They had pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiracy and robbery but they were found guilty by the court after the prosecution had led evidence to prove their guilt.
The fifth accused person, Tetteh Dekpey, 29, was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment on the grounds that he had pleaded guilty to the charges of conspiracy and robbery from the onset of the trial.
Each of the accused persons is expected to serve his sentence from the day of arrest.
A sixth accused person, Alfred Adjei, has been on the run since 2002.
The trial judge, Mr Justice E. K. Ayebi, said the prosecution had succeeded in proving a prima facie case against the convicts.
He said robbery, which was on the ascendancy, had now become a daily occurrence and for that matter it was important that the convicts be given a deterrent sentence.
The brief facts, as presented by a State Attorney, Mr Augustines Obour, were that the convicts attacked their victim around 1.30 a.m. on May 5, 2002.
The convicts, upon entering the victim’s house, led one of the residents of the house at gunpoint to the victim’s room and took away GH¢3,500, one counting machine, jewellery, a video deck, a Sony sound system and other items.
On May 8, 2002, Dekpey was arrested and he in turn led the police to arrest the other accomplices at their hideouts.

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