The suspects
Two out of three young friends who were alleged to have stolen items worth GHC23,500.00 from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Academy at Kpetoe in the Agotime-Ziope district of the Volta Region have been handed a jail term with hard labour.
The two who were sentenced by the Kpetoe District Magistrate Court, were handed a total of 24 months jail term.
John Agbowali, aged 21 was handed a-18-month jail term while James Kwadwo Badawusu, aged 18 was handed a-six-month jail term; both with hard labour.
The third accomplice, Godsway Budu, aged 21 was fined to the tune of 40 penalty units; and would in default, serve a six-month jail term in hard labour as well.
Two other persons to whom the stolen items were sold were acquitted and discharged for the fact that there was nothing to show that the items sold to them were stolen.
The trio who are suspected to have been terrorising residents of Kpetoe were arrested for stealing from the GRA Academy premises in Kpetoe.
The items which were stolen from a construction site at the Academy include, four Polytanks with a capacity of 10,000 litres each, 24 pieces of ceiling fans, and a set of water closet; all valued at GHC23,500.00.
The prosecution says the three had been successful in their endeavour due to the institutional knowledge of Badawusu Kwadwo James who happens to be a temporal employee of the Academy.
They then sold the items to two other persons.
The suspects were arrested after the items they sold were traced back to them.
They were subsequently arraigned and convicted on their own plea on Wednesday, January 8, 2020.
Additional records on the convicts revealed that they were standing trail for other stealing offences in the same court.
The sentence which was originally scheduled for Friday, January 10, 2010 was adjourned twice until, Thursday, January 23rd, 2020.
From Fred Duodu, Ho (k.duodu@yahoo.com)