Timothy Amponsah, a 32-year-old resident of Asebu Ankromah in the Central Region, has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in hard labour by a Tarkwa Circuit Court.
The convict was hauled before the court for conspiring with his wife to rob a driver of his Mazda Damio taxi cab valued at GHï¿ 30,000.00.
He pleaded guilty to the charges of conspiracy and robbery, and the court, presided over by Mrs. Hathie Ama Manu jailed him.
Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Joseph Lartey said the complainant, Sampson Arhin, 28, is a taxi driver who lives at Ankobra in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality.
He said Amponsah and his wife Sheilla Omano, who is currently on the run, were also residents of Asebu Ankromah in the Central Region.
On March 5, 2023, the couple hatched a plan to travel to Prestea to rob a taxi from any driver they chanced upon.
The prosecution said Amponsah and his wife arrived at Prestea same day to carry out the operation.
They spotted the complainant in his taxi cab with registration number AS 9230-22 and signalled him to stop.
The two then hired the service of the complainant from Prestea to Dumasi to visit a friend.
On arrival at Dumasi around 2:30pm, the wife made a phone call and later told the complainant that the person they came to visit had left to Bogoso so he should take them to Bogoso.
He said in the course of the journey, while the wife was sitting on the front passenger’s seat, the husband, who sat directly behind the driver attacked the driver and smeared powered pepper on his face, around a rubber plantation.
He said the complainant lost control of the vehicle and the engine went off. Amponsah pushed the driver out of the vehicle and then drove the car to an unknown destination.
The prosecutor added that, on March 6, 2023, the complainant reported the incident to the police in Bogoso and was given a medical form to attend hospital, where he was treated and discharged.
Chief Inspector Lartey said on March 11, this year, police upon further investigations, arrested Amponsah at Asebu Akromah. When a search was conducted in his room, the complainant’s original number plate was found.
The court, after passing the judgment, ordered that the vehicle should be released to the complainant.
From Emmanuel Opoku, TakoradiÂ