Student jailed two years for stealing phone

A circuit court at Juaso sentenced a 24-year-old student to two years imprisonment in hard labour for stealing a mobile phone worth 1.8 million cedis.

Joseph Abban pleaded guilty to one count of stealing and was convicted on his own plea.

Police Inspector Mike Fritz Bekoe, told the court presided over by Mr. Jacob Boom that both complainant and accused were students and residents of Domeabra, near Agogo.

He said in 2005 the accused, who was a member of a brass band which performed at a funeral of the grandmother of the complainant established relationship with one Abena Nyarko, a relative of the complainant.

Insp. Bekoe said the accused who had been visiting the family ever since, in December last year, told Nyarko and the complainant that he lost his mother and grandmother in a motor accident, rendering him homeless.

He said the accused who claimed to be a citizen of Juaben was accepted by the family and allowed to share the same room with the complainant.

Insp. Bekoe said three weeks later, the accused absconded with the mobile phone of the complainant and never returned to the house.

The prosecutor said, the complainant and the family traced the accused to Juaso and discovered that both his grandmother and mother were alive.