The convicted robbers
The Bekwai Circuit Court has sentenced three armed robbers who attempted to rob a filling station at Abenkyim, near Anwiankwanta in the Bekwai Municipality of the Ashanti Region, to a total of 47 years’ imprisonment.
Samuel Agyekum, 18, Boakye Ansah, 24 and Innocent Amoako aka Stonky, 19, pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and possession of a firearm and three kitchen knives at the Abenkyim branch of Petro Bay Filling Station on March 8, this year.
Boakye Ansah, who was said to be the ringleader of the gang, was slapped with a 17-year jail term, while Samuel Agyekum and Innocent Amoako were each sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment in hard labour.
They were arrested on Thursday, March 8, 2018 by a police patrol team following a hot chase after the foiled robbery attempt.
Prosecutor, DSP Edward Obeng Boateng, told the court that the convicts met at Dominase in the Bekwai Municipality to hatch the plan after receiving information that the branch manager could not deposit the day’s sales at the bank.
He narrated that the gangsters, who were in balaclavas, eventually hired a taxi at Trede to carry out the operation.
The convicts told the cabbie that they were air-conditioner technicians contracted to work at Petrol Bay Filling Station, prosecutor disclosed.
DSP Boateng revealed that Boakye Ansah, a former worker of the filling station who was conversant with the place, immediately asked Innocent Amoako to change his clothes and proceed to the office under the pretext of looking for a place to attend nature’s call, which he did.
According to him, Boakye Ansah led Samuel Agyekum into the station manager’s office, while Innocent also monitored events with a pistol at the bay.
“The convicts retreated when they discovered that the manager was not in his office and quickly ran into the waiting taxi en route to Anwiankwanta,” he stated.
Unknown to the gang, a witness in the case, who is a friend of one of the convicts, alerted residents of Anwiankwanta who subsequently relayed the information to the police.
They were arrested at Anwiankwanta after the inhabitants blocked the road to prevent their (gang) escape.
A search conducted in the taxi revealed a pistol, three kitchen knives, a mask and gloves.
They were charged and arraigned before court after police investigations.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi