Court sentenced trader to 10 years imprisonment
An Accra Circuit Court yesterday handed a 10-year jail term to 20-year-old trader Seidu Issah, who mixed jollof rice with wee.
The accused is reported to have given the said ‘wee jollof’ to one Latifah Ibrahim, sister of the complainant, Kwame Antwi, a businessman, to make her sleep for hours for daring to question the convict about his narcotic trade.
Sentencing Seidu, the presiding judge, Aboagye Tandoh, said the convict who had admitted the offense, would be sentenced on his own guilty plea.
He said Andrew Kudjo Vortia, lawyer for the accused person, had pleaded with the court to deal leniently with his client because he (client) did not waste the time of the court.
In the view of Mr. Aboagye Tandoh, the action of Seidu was to teach Latifah and his family a lesson.
The court held that the convict per his action was ruthless.
For this reason, the judge stated that the court would balance the negative conduct of Seidu with his plea for mitigation and accordingly sentenced him to 10 years’ imprisonment term.
Earlier, Mr. Vortia had pleaded with the court to be lenient with the convict whose wife is a nursing mother.
He was charged for unlawfully possessing narcotics and his sentence earlier deferred to October 17, for the substance to be tested.
At the initial stages of the trial, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Patience Mario said the complainant, Antwi, is a businessman living at Dome Zongo in Accra, while the convict lives at Achimota Abofu, also in Accra.
The court heard that the complainant’s wife operates a drinking spot at Dome Afghanistan and that the convict had been peddling narcotics in and around the spot.
DSP Mario said attempts by the complaint and his wife to stop Seidu from the illicit trade proved futile.
She said at about 7:30 am on September 23, this year, the wife of the complainant found her younger sister, Latifah Ibrahim, deeply asleep at the spot.
DSP Mario said the complainant’s wife was informed that the convict used wee to cook jollof rice and gave some to Latifah, making her sleep till the following day.
A complaint was lodged at the police station and a form was issued to the victim to go to the hospital for examination.
The prosecutor said when Seidu was arrested 58 wraps and compressed parcel of dry leaves suspected to be Indian hemp (wee) were found on him.
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
jeffdegraft44@yahoo.com