Ataa Ayi’s Boys Jailed •72 Years

Two self-confessed armed robbers, Nana Yaw Owusu and Nana Osei Razak, said to be accomplices of Aryee Aryeetey, alias Ata Ayi, an armed robber currently doing time in prison for robbery, have been sentenced to thirty-six years imprisonment each in hard labour by an Accra Fast-Track High Court.

Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, an Appeal's Court Judge with additional responsibility just before his elevation to a Supreme Court Judge, jailed the two in a case in which they were alleged to have robbed a woman of $65,000 and other valuables at Dome near St. Johns.

The two accused persons had been charged with conspiracy to commit crime and robbery with Ata Ayi and six others, said to have been masterminded by Ata Ayi and Frederick Lamptey Annan, alias Numoe, about four years ago.

Nana Yaw Owusu, alias Tonny, who was the first to open his defence in the case in 2005, told the court that he and the other accused persons did not know themselves and that they were brought together by the police who alleged they were robbers.

However, he made a U-turn by pleading guilty, leading to his conviction. They face 36 years on each count of conspiracy to commit crime and robbery with both sentences to run concurrently.

He shocked the whole nation when he told the court that the infamous Ata Ayi wanted by the police in connection with a number of robberies had died so Aryee Aryeetey was not the one the police were searching for.

A few days later, Nana Osei Razak brought a dramatic twist to the saga when he stated that Aryee Aryeetey was the one notorious armed robber the police wanted dead or alive, consequently nailing Ata Ayi, who was facing another trial for robbing a man at a Forex Bureau.

Narrating to the court how he joined the group, he said the younger brother of the woman they robbed gave them the information about his sister called Dora who he said was rich but did not want to help the family.

He further indicated that the robbery was masterminded by Ata Ayi, also known as “One Touch”, and Numboe, who invited him for the operation even though he initially felt reluctant to join them.

Razak told the court that it was Aryee Aryeetey who used a motorbike to cross the woman's vehicle while the rest of them used a taxi, wielding guns, and succeeded in robbing the woman of her valuables.

The accused person indicated that he was not comfortable with the way things were going and decided to confess so that he would be free but the trial Judge deferred the sentence to a later date.

Ataa Ayi and the rest of his alleged accomplices denied the offence and insisted that their colleague wanted to frame them up.

Lawyers of the notorious armed robber seem to have abandoned him, as even Mr. David Annan, who usually represented him when all the lawyers left was nowhere to be found.

Other persons in the trial include Samuel Kwaku Annan, Yaw Asante Agyekum, Stephen Nyarko, Roger Kwabla Abodogah and Raymond Ameh.

Nyarko, Abodogah and Ameh were two years ago jailed 65 years each with Ata Ayi by Justice Baffoe-Bonnie for robbing a man of GH¢7,000 at a Forex Bureau.

By Fidelia Achama