Musah Mohammed and Fred Apam.
A 20-year-old labourer has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for attempting to rob a victim of her mobile phone at gunpoint at Tsinae-Agbeh, a suburb of Ashaiman, in the Greater Accra Region.
The convict, Fred Apam, a resident of Old-Tulaku at Ashaiman, was said to have used force in an attempt to overcome the victim – Princess John. He pointed a locally-manufactured pistol at the victim in an attempt to rob her off her mobile phone, but he was arrested by some residents of the area, who handed him over to the police.
He was charged with two counts – possession of arms or ammunitions without authority contrary to section 11(a) of Arms and Ammunitions Act 1972, Act 604, and an attempt to commit a crime to wit robbery contrary to sections 18 and 149 of the Criminal Offences Act 1960, Act 29.
Apam pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against him but he was eventually sentenced after over a year long trial at the Ashaiman Circuit Court, presided over by His Lordship, Gabriel Mante-Teye.
He was found guilty and was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on both counts which are to run concurrently.
According to the prosecution, on March 19, 2017, at about 12:30 am, the complainant was lying in her bed with a mobile phone in her hand while the door to her room was open.
The convict, who was then loitering around, saw the complainant and thought she was asleep.
He entered the room and attempted to take the mobile phone from her but the complainant resisted, resulting in a struggle between them.
In the course of the struggle, the accused person pointed a gun at her. However, the complainant continued to resist the accused until the pistol fell.
A neighbour of the complainant rushed to the scene, having noticed the unusual struggle and quickly raised alarm that attracted the attention of some unit committee members in the area, who arrested the accused person.
The locally-manufactured pistol was later found under the complainant’s bed.
The accused person was subsequently handed over to the police.
He was charged and arraigned before the Ashaiman Court.
In a related development, a 23-year-old man, Mohammed Musah, who was arrested with dried leaves suspected to be Indian Hemp by a police patrol team at Newtown Junction at Ashaiman, has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.
The convict, a motor mechanic, was on November 22, 2017, at about 8:30pm, spotted with a black bag by some policemen on patrol duty.
He was approached and a search was conducted on him which eventually revealed a blue and pink polythene bag which contained 54 wrappers of the substance.
He was said to have admitted ownership of the exhibit during police interrogation and he was charged with the offence of possessing an illegal drug after a forensic laboratory report confirmed the exhibit to be cannabis.
After a long trial, Musah was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment by the court.
From Vincent Kubi, Ashaiman