GAOLED! Cletus Ofori
AN ACCRA Circuit Court has convicted and sentenced three armed robbers to a total of 125 years imprisonment after finding them guilty of being involved in robbery activities at Awoshie, Kokrobite and Adenta, all suburbs of Accra.
The three convicts, Michael Bawah, Eric Nii Adotey Addo and Cletus Ofori who are standing trial on separate robbery charges, pleaded not guilty to the charges and argued their cases in court.
However, the court, presided over by Francis Obiri, observed that their defence could not exonerate them from the charges levelled against them as the prosecution proved their case beyond every reasonable doubt for which reason they had to be incarcerated.
Michael Bawah, a trader, was found guilty on a charge of robbery and was sentenced to 50 years imprisonment with hard labour.
The convict and his three accomplices, now at large, on April 9, 2012, brutally assaulted a taxi driver with a gun at Awoshie and snatched his taxi from him. After snatching the Kia Cerato, the convict and his gang criminally fixed a fake number plate GW4058-11 on the stolen car and proceeded to Accra to sell the vehicle.
The police got wind of that and arrested Michael at Cocoa Clinic. The others, however, managed to escape.
Eric Nii Adotey Addo, a fisherman, reportedly on February 8, 2013 together with three others, robbed an Italian citizen, Renato Capparotto, who was in the country on holidays, of his bag containing his passport, one note book Eee laptop valued at €150, 50-200mm Nikon camera lens valued at €200 euros, one 500 GB passport hard disk valued at €100 and cash of €2,000 at Kokrobite.
The convict was facing two charges of conspiracy to commit crime and robbery. One Isaac Mensah, who was arraigned with him at the court, accepted his guilt on the first appearance and was handed a 40-year jail term.
Nii Adotey Addo, who denied the charges, according to the court made contradicting statement in his defence and a statement he had earlier given to the police which showed clearly he was not a truthful witness.
The court handed him 20 years on the charge of conspiracy and 45 years on the robbery charge. The sentences are, however, to run concurrently.
The third convict, Cletus Ofori, trader, was facing a conspiracy charge and three robbery charges.
Judge Obiri sentenced the convict to 20 years on the conspiracy charge and 30 years each for the robbery charges. The sentences are to run concurrently.
The facts of the case as narrated by DSP Reindorf Agyemang are that the complainant is a management consultant living at Adenta SSNIT Flats while Cletus Ofori is a trader residing at Bubuashie, Accra.
DSP Agyemang stated that on July 18, 2011, at about 10:00am, while the complainant was sleeping in his room with the wife and children in the other rooms, the convict and the two others at large armed with knives, cutter and a metal bar attacked the household.
The armed robbers, according to the prosecutor, robbed the complainant of three laptops, five mobile phones, sets of jewellery, one Sony DVD player, one Casio digital camera, male Kente cloth and a pen drive all valued at GH¢4,440.00 and cash of GH¢4,620.00 and €600.
The convict and his accomplices raped the complainant’s wife in turns. They also molested and beat up the complainant and his family.
DSP Agyemang said the robbers, after their operation, left behind a cutter and an iron bar.
The police, on July 23, 2011, had information and proceeded to arrest Cletus at his hideout at Bubuashie in a school hostel. A search conducted in his room revealed some of the stolen items which included DVD players, one television set, a Samsung woofer, 10 wrist watches, one video game, five mobile phones, one male kente cloth and four pen drives.
One of the pen drives inspected by the police revealed the address and contact of the complainant.
The complainant, who had initially reported the matter to the Lake Side Police, came to the regional police headquarters, where Emmanuel was being kept, to identify him as their attacker.
He also identified the kente cloth as his as well as one of the mobile phones in the possession of the accused.
By Mary Anane &Linda Tenyah