THE JUABEN Circuit Court in the Ashanti Region has sentenced two drivers and a driver’s mate to 17 years’ imprisonment each with hard labour for robbing a Senior High School student at Onwe near Ejisu in the Ashanti Region of his personal belongings.
The convicts were sentenced to 15 and 17 years’ imprisonment on count one and count two respectively. However, the sentences are to run concurrently.
The court, presided over by Her Honour, Rosemarie Afua Asante, sentenced Michael Kwaku Penya, driver’s mate, 23, Robert Kwame Mensah, driver, 22, and Kwadwo Apraku, driver, 23, on their own pleas of guilty to two charges of conspiracy to commit crime to wit robbery and robbery, contrary to sections 23(1) and 149 of the Criminal Offences Act 29/60 and contrary to section 149 of the Criminal Offences Act 29/60 respectively.
The presiding judge before pronouncing the sentence considered the fact that the convicts were young people and first offenders with no criminal records.
However, she said she took into consideration the rampant rate of crimes perpetrated against the students and the members of the community. She thus jailed them to deter any person who harbours evil thought of terrorising the residents.
While Kwaku Penya lived at Odaho, both Robert Kwame Mensah and Kwadwo Apraku lived at Onwe.
Presenting the facts of the case to the court, Inspector Rebecca Sedufia, the prosecutor, said on September 11, 2022 at about 9:30pm, the convicts ambushed the victim, who is the complainant in the case, and dispossessed him of his iphone 6x mobile phone valued at GHȼ650 and an amount of GHȼ95.00.
The convicts told police investigators that they sold the mobile phone to someone at PZ at the Adum business district in Kumasi at the reduced price of GHȼ250, but they failed to identify the person to the police.
According to Inspector Sedufia, prior to the arrest of the convicts, there had been series of robbery incidents on the students of Onwe SHS, but efforts to arrest the perpetrators to face the law proved futile.
On that fateful day the victim was attacked, he was returning home after private studies at the school, and on reaching a section of the road, the convicts who were hiding in a nearby bush accosted him, gagged him and dragged him to a hideout.
They then subjected the victim to severe torture before forcibly snatching his mobile phone and taking his money. Afterwards they abandoned him and bolted.
Complainant subsequently shouted for help, drawing the attention of some people who came to his rescue and took him to the Onwe Police Station where a formal complaint was lodged.
A police medical form was issued to the complainant to seek treatment at the hospital.
According to the prosecutor, as a manhunt for the accused persons was ongoing, police had intelligence to the effect that, the convicts were spotted at Asafo Market’s Bus Terminal in readiness to travel to Wassa Akropong in the Wassa Amenfi East Municipality of the Western Region, leading to their arrest.
The prosecutor said the three men in their separate cautioned statements to the police admitted to the offence.
From David Afum, Kumasi