3 Jailed 60yrs For Robbery 

Three persons were yesterday sentenced to a total of 60 years imprisonment by an Accra circuit court for their involvement in two separate robberies in Sowutuom in Accra.

They are Emmanuel Amponsah, unemployed; Isaac Akwei, unemployed and Patrick Kuffour, a petty trader.

The prosecution, led by Domnic W. Bakoma, alleged that the accused persons on December 19, 2010 at Sowutuom in Accra, robbed one William Obeng Bonsu of his two Samsung digital cameras, one LG mobile phone, three wedding rings and an amount of GH¢850 through threat of harm.

Consequently, the court presided over by Justice Francis Obiri found all three accused persons guilty of the offence of conspiracy and robbery, although they had denied same.

In sentencing, the trial judge noted that anybody could be a victim of robbery, disclosing that one of the victims lost his wife six months after the incident.

He said the accused persons deserved a harsher punishment to serve as a deterrent to others and accordingly handed each of them 15 years on the charge of conspiracy and 20 years for robbery.

At the initial stages of the trial, Mr Bakoma said at about 11:30am on the aforementioned date, the accused persons, armed with locally made pistols, a foreign revolver and a single barrel gun, broke into the house of the complainant whilst he and his family were sleeping in their various rooms. The robbers ransacked the place and made away with the aforestated items.

He said the convicts after attacking the daughters of the couple, who were sleeping in another room, marched them to the room of their parents and asked them to surrender all they had, to which they obliged.

Mr Bakoma said upon a tipoff, Amponsah was arrested and confessed to the crime and led the police to Teshie, also in Accra, where some ammunition were retrieved from him.

According to the state prosecutor, Amponsah mentioned the other two as his accomplices, leading to their arrest.

By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
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