Two cops jailed for robbery

December 9, 2010 (Front Page)

THE Accra Fast Track High Court yesterday sentenced two police officers to a total of 20 years’ imprisonment for robbing a Belgian national at Achimota, a suburb of Accra, on March 19, 2010.
The convicts, General Corporal David Koomson, 33, and Lance Corporal Franklin Turkson, 28, and two of their colleagues who are currently on the run were said to have assaulted the Belgian and in the process robbed him of his gold watch worth $25,000, cash of $5,000 and GH¢700, as well as his iPhone cellular phone worth $1,000.
Koomson, who was from the Panthers Unit and attached to the Flagstaff House, was said to have abandoned his guard post at 8 a.m. to commit the robbery.
The accomplices on the run are General Constable Isaac Shiburah and General Constable Edward Opoku.
Three other accomplices whose names were not provided to the court are also on the run.
Koomson and Turkson, who told the Belgian they were from the national security outfit before committing the offence, were convicted on two counts of conspiracy and robbery and were sentenced accordingly.
Each of them was sentenced to three years on the count of conspiracy and 10 years on the count of robbery. The sentences are to run concurrently.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Senyo Dzamefe, a Court of Appeal judge with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, said the prosecution was able to prove the guilt of the accused persons beyond reasonable doubt.
He said the 11 prosecution witnesses were able to lead evidence to warrant the conviction of the accused, adding that the complainant was able to identify the convicts, to the extent of describing a scar on Turkson’s arm.
According to the court, the prosecution was able to prove that the convicts and their accomplices met and hatched a plan to rob the Belgian.
The convicts and their families looked sorrowful when judgement was passed.
The facts of the case were that the complainant, who was based in the United States of America (USA), arrived in the country to purchase gold.
According to the prosecution, two civilians picked him up from his hotel and informed him that they were taking him to a gold refinery.
On reaching a point at Achimota, Koomson and Turkson, together with the others on the run, alighted from a black VW Golf car, with registration number AS 3115 T, ordered the Belgian to get down from the vehicle and in the process handcuffed him, beat him up and took away his money and other valuables.
After robbing the Belgian, the convicts and their accomplices fled, leaving the Belgian to his fate. The Belgian managed to stop a taxi and the driver took him to a private radio station where an announcement on the robbery was made.
The convicts were arrested barely six hours after the robbery. Turkson was said to have confessed to have committed the crime and mentioned Koomson and others as his accomplices.