Ex-convict jailed 65 year; Loses shop, taxi to state

A 39-year-old ex-convict who succeeded in robbing a rural bank and a licensed gold buying company in Kumasi has been sentenced to 65 years’ imprisonment.
The Kumasi High Court found Samuel Osei Joy, also known as Osei Kofi, guilty of conspiracy, robbery and attempted robbery.

The court, presided over by Mr Justice Mohammed Nabon, gave him 65 years for robbery and 50 years for attempted robbery and conspiracy.

The sentences are to run concurrently.

Following the sentence, the court ordered that Osei’s shop situated at Feyiase, in the Bosomtwe District of Ashanti, which he acquired through a series of robberies, should be confiscated to the state.

The court further ordered that his Toyota Corona taxi, with registration number AS 3766 R, which he used to facilitate his criminal operations, should also be confiscated to the state.

Facts of the case

A State Attorney, Mrs Marie-Louise Simmons, had told the court that Osei was an ex-convict who had, on May 25, 2005, been sentenced to a 10-year jail term on charges of conspiracy and robbery.

She said a few months after he had finished serving his sentence, he formed a gang and started attacking innocent victims at gunpoint and robbed them of unspecified amounts of money, mobile phones and other valuables.

She mentioned an attack on the Ahenema Kokoben branch of the Bosomtwe Rural Bank as one of the high-profile robberies Osei carried out, explaining that around 1:30 p.m. on November 15, 2012, Osei, together with three accomplices,  now deceased, entered the bank on the pretext of transacting business.

According to Mrs Simmons, moments afterwards, the convict pulled out an AK 47 assault rifle and first attacked the security man on duty, wrested his pump action gun from him and escorted him into the banking hall, where they locked all the staff on duty and customers in one of the rooms.

She said they then ordered the branch manager to open the strong room, where they robbed the bank of GH¢76,905 and bolted in a waiting taxi.

According to the prosecution, through police investigations, the suspects were arrested on January 14, 2013 while in possession of weapons, including the pump action gun stolen from the Bosomtwe Rural Bank.

Second case

On the second case for which the convict would serve 65 years in jail, Mrs Simmons said around 3p.m. on December 21, 2012, Osei, together with an accomplice (now deceased) entered the N. G. Small Scale Company, contacted the receptionist and requested to know the price of gold.

She said the accomplice then pulled an AK 47 assault rifle, ordered all the staff to lie down and succeeded in robbing them of an unspecified amount and other valuables.

Mrs Simmons said in the course of the operation, they shot the receptionist in the thigh, causing her to bleed profusely.

She said they fled in a waiting taxi with their booty.

By George Ernest Asare/Daily Graphic/Ghana