THE ASOKWA District Court presided over by Akua Adu Boahen in Kumasi has sentenced one Nana Yaw Amoateng, mason, to three months imprisonment with hard labour for stealing GH¢1,920.
The 28-year-old man was also slapped with a GH¢1,800 fine or in default serve another month imprisonment.
The convict pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing, contrary to section 124(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act.29).
Prosecution led by Inspector Gifty Asante, presenting the facts of the case to the court, said the complainant in the case, Mary Okyere, was a student and resided at Buokrom Estate Junction, while the accused person lived at Asokore Mampong, near Kumasi.
About three months ago, the complainant visited her elder brother at Asokore Mampong and got to know the accused person through her brother.
The prosecution said the convict who had become a friend to the complainant, led her to Buokrom Estate Junction to rent a single room apartment after the latter had decided to relocate.
The two became so close that the convict often visited her in the house for four to five days to assist her with house chores.
Inspector Asante told the court that weeks later after the complainant had rented the room she detected leakages in the roof during a torrential rainfall and reported it to the landlady.
The landlady promised to refund the complainant’s GH¢1,920 to her to look for another room in the interest of peace.
On June 26, 2020 at about 7:00pm, the landlady refunded the money to the complainant in the presence of five witnesses including the convict and an agent.
The complainant trusted the accused person and asked him to receive the money on her behalf and keep it. Afterwards, the complainant visited a saloon with her daughter, but when she returned at about 9:00pm, the accused was nowhere to be found.
She made several calls to the accused but his phoned was switched off. Alarmed by the convict’s action, she traced him to his father’s houses at Buokrom and Asokore Mampong but his whereabouts could not be established.
On July 3, 2020 at about 5:20pm, the police arrested him at his hideout at Asokore Mampong. Yaw Amoateng admitted the offence in his caution statement to the police and promised to refund the money but failed to do so.
FROM David Afum, KumasiÂ