Sakaman Pharmacy Robbers Jailed

An Accra High Court judge sitting with additional responsibility, Justice Francis Obiri, on Tuesday sentenced two suspects who robbed a pharmacy shop at Sakaman near Dansoman.

The accused persons, Joseph Ewudzi, and his alleged accomplice, Dennis Nana Poku, who are both under 25 years, were jailed 15 years after Justice Obiri, sitting as a Circuit Court judge, said he found them guilty of the offence of conspiracy and robbery.

He handed them five years each for conspiracy and ten years each for robbery and said he would have been more lenient due to their ages but for their use of offensive weapons.

Another accomplice, George Doodo, who was arraigned with them, was also handed a 25-year term after he immediately admitted the offences.

According to the judge, the prosecuting team, led by Chief Supt Duuti Tuaruka, was able to prove the guilt of the accused persons beyond reasonable doubt.

He noted that the prosecution tendered written statements by the suspects admitting the offence and noted that even though they later denied they wrote the statements voluntarily, the suspects were not truthful to the court.

Justice Obiri noted that everything each of the accused persons told the court was an afterthought and that since written statements could be accepted by the court in case of denial by a suspect about his own statement, he would accept the written statements of the suspects.

In addition, he said he found the two guilty of conspiracy and murder and consequently handed them the said sentences and ordered for the destruction of the pistol used in the robbery.

The facts of the case as presented by Supt Tuaruka are that on July 10, 2013 three young men wielding a pistol, stormed a pharmacy shop at Sakaman and attacked the workers there.

He said the suspects locked the pharmacy workers in a storeroom and made away with GH¢730, which was their day's sales, before attempting to bolt in a taxi. However, the victims raised an alarm which attracted neighbours to the scene.

Furthermore, he noted that the two managed to escape, leaving Doodo who was nearly lynched by a mob who gathered to rescue the victims.

The prosecutor explained that a police patrol team which was near the area took Doodo to the police station where, upon interrogation, he told the police who his accomplices were.

Doodo later led police to arrest them.
By Fidelia Achama