Six robbers jailed 240 years

March 23, 2011 (Page 3 Lead)

SIX robbers were yesterday handed a total of 240 years in jail with hard labour after they had been convicted for conspiracy, robbery and rape.
The six — Issaka Abubakar, alias Raggah Gyiwah, Hamza Shaibu, Taju Adam, Majid Seidu, Ali Adamu and Charles Ametor — all traders and in their early 20s, were each sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment after they had been found guilty on two counts of conspiracy and robbery by the Fast Track High Court, presided over by Mr Justice Charles Quist.
The sentences of the convicts, who were clad in white apparel, are to run concurrently.
They looked gloomy as they were escorted out of the courtroom by prison officers to begin their prison sentences.
The convicts were found to have used offensive weapons to embark on a robbery spree at Pokuase, a suburb of Accra, and in the process entered the complainant’s house, robbed him of valuable items and raped a female member of the house.
Hamza, Taju, Adamu and Ametor took turns to rape that female, while wielding a machete and a gun to keep her silent. The victim managed to identify the four convicts in court during the trial.
Hamza, a cousin of Adamu’s, together with Taju, Majid and Ali, confessed to robbing the complainant at Pokuase at gunpoint on March 11, 2007 and explained the role each of them had played, as well as the amount of money and the items each of them had after the robbery.
The convicts, who had robbed three different households before entering the complainant’s house, took away video decks, 15 cellular phones, unspecified amounts of money, both in local and foreign denominations, a pair of shoes, a pair of trousers, a shirt, a key and gold ornaments belonging to a queen who also lived in the complainant’s house.
According to the trial judge, the prosecution was able to prove the guilt of the convicts beyond reasonable doubt.
He said there was also abundant evidence to prove that the four, who confessed to committing the robbery, had confessed voluntarily.
Mr Justice Quist said the confession statements of the convicts were by law admissible in court, adding that there was overwhelming evidence to prove that the convicts had acted together to commit the robbery and rape.
The facts of the case were that the six convicts, together with three others who are currently on the run, embarked on a robbery spree at Pokuase with a taxi they had earlier snatched from its owner on March 11, 2007.
The robbers, in the process, broke into the complainant’s house with a pinch bar, took the watchman hostage and tied his hands at the back.
Some of the robbers mounted guard on him while the others entered the house through the kitchen door which they destroyed with cement blocks in order to gain access to the living room.
The convicts and their three accomplices currently on the run held the occupants of the house hostage and managed to ransack the house at gunpoint.
Not satisfied with their booty, four of them decided to take turns to rape the female member of the house. They bolted afterwards, leaving the occupants to their fate.
The convicts were arrested barely a month after that exercise while embarking on another robbery.