A 57-year-old cocoa farmer, Emmanuel Addae, from Twifu Heman Nsuaem in the Central Region has been sentenced to nine months imprisonment for stealing two bunches of plantain.
According to reports, the convict harvested the plantain, which belonged to his friend because he was hungry, having failed to ask his friend before harvesting the food item.
This was revealed in an interview with Crime Check Foundation, during a visit by the NGO to the Ankaful Main Camp Prison in the Central Region.
Addae said because he was unable to bear the starvation he and his family were experiencing, he intended to inform his playmate after harvesting the food crop.
According to him, his friend had traveled so when he went to his house, he met his brother.
He added that his pal’s brother was not kind to him so he reported him to the police.
“My friend would not have had any problem with me harvesting his plantain if he were around but I was disappointed when he told me to go with the help of God when they were going to imprison me,” he complained.
The father of five who could barely afford three square meals for his wife and children said he was arraigned before a court in Fosu where he pleaded guilty.
The court he said fined him GHC1000.
Unable to pay the fine, he said the presiding judge sentenced him to nine months imprisonment suggesting that it is his habit of stealing people’s food crops on their farms.
Crime Check Foundation (CCF), however, paid a working visit to Addae at the prison as part of the implementation of its Petty Offenders project.
The NGO paid for the poor man’s fine after interacting with him about his crime.
BY Daniel Bampoe