Driver In Court For Robbery




 
By Helena Selby
An Accra circuit court has remanded into custody a taxi driver for allegedly robbing at gun point, a colleague taxi driver, of his taxi cab, in the middle of the night.

The accused person, George Vanderpuye, is alleged to have acted together with his accomplice, who is currently at large, to rob his colleague of his Nissan Almera taxi cab with registration number GB 1683-12, valued at GH¢13,500.

Both the accused person and his accomplice also made away with two mobile phones worth GH¢250 and cash sum of GH¢90.00. George Vanderpuye was arrested upon a tip-off in front of his house.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge of robbery contrary to section 149 of criminal code act 29/60, when he was arraigned before the court presided over by Mr. Francis Obiri. George Vanderpuye is expected to re-appear before the court on February 25, 2013.

The facts of the case are that on November 12, 2012, at about 2:30am, while the complainant was working with the said car, the accused person and his accomplice hired the complainant from Korle-Woko near Arena to Mamprobi-Camara, all suburbs of Accra.

The Prosecutor, DSP P.A Mokeh told the court that on reaching a section of the road at Mamprobi, the accused person and his accomplice suddenly pulled a gun and a machete on the complainant and ordered him to stop and hand over the ignition key.

He said at the spot, the complainant told the accused person that he knew him as a colleague taxi driver so he should have mercy on him.

According to him, this did not deter the accused person and his accomplice who went ahead and forcibly took the car and other belongings from the complainant.

‘They also went away with the road worthy certificate of the car and premier football betting tickets, which the complainant won GH¢500 worth, but was not able to collect the prize due to the loss of the ticket’, the Prosecutor told the court.

DSP Mokeh further mentioned that a report was made to the police at Mamprobi and on February 2013, at about 12:00am, with the assistance of the police informants at the Accra Regional Police Headquarters, the accused person was arrested in front of his house at Swallaba in Accra.

Prosecution said during investigations, the accused person stated in his cautioned statement that he is a driver and he also knows the complainant as a colleague taxi driver but denied having committed the offence.