Four sentenced to 110 years for robbery
An Accra Circuit Court, presided over by Mr Francis Obiri, has sentenced four people to a total jail term of 110 years for engaging in three separate robberies in Accra.
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That was after the court had found them guilty of conspiracy to rob and robbery.
The convicts are Muntala Mohammed, Forster Koranu, Nana Addo Felix and Nuhu Musah.
Muntala, Koranu and Nana Addo, who were charged with conspiracy to rob and robbery, are to serve 20 years and 30 years respectively for conspiracy to rob and robbery, while Nuhu Musa is to serve 20 years for robbery. All the sentences are to run concurrently.
Delivering the judgement, Mr Obiri said armed robbery was becoming rampant in the country so the perpetrators should not be harboured in society.
Facts of the First Robbery
According to the prosecutor, Chief Superintendent Duuti Tuareka, the complainants, Esana Richard, driver; Princess Opoku, hairdresser; James Oppong, mechanic; and Ebenezer Atta, driver, respectively lived at Amasaman, Nii Boi Town, Tesano and Madina in Accra.
He said Muntala Mohammed was a porter and lived at Akweteman, near Accra.
On November 25, 2013, about 12:10 a.m., Muntala and his two accomplices, now at large, hired the first complainant’s taxicab at Lapaz to take them to Abelemkpe.
On reaching a section of the road near Mawarko Restaurant, Muntala and his accomplices attacked Esana, with a kitchen knife, collected his Techno mobile phone and cash of GH¢150 and took to their heels.
The complainant reported the case to the police/military patrol team at Abelemkpe, who arrived at the scene after the incident.
The police took the complainant in their car in search of Muntala and in the process came across a taxicab heading towards the old overhead at Achimota.
The occupants of the taxicab, on seeing the patrol car, jumped out of the taxi to run away, but the police managed to arrest Muntala while his two accomplices escaped.
Six mobile phones, a kitchen knife and a bottle of perfume were found on him. The complainant identified one of the phones as being the one collected from him.
He also identified Muntala as one of his attackers.
During investigations the other complainants identified the remaining mobile phones to be theirs and stated that the accused person and his accomplices attacked them separately on the same night at Achimota, Lapaz and Nii Boi Town respectively and robbed them of the items.
Muntala admitted the offence in his caution statement.
Facts of second robbery
For the second robbery, the prosecution said the complainants were policemen stationed at the Criminal Investigations Department of the Greater Accra Regional Police Command.
He said Forster Koranu was a porter and Nana Addo was a fisherman.
The prosecution said on August 8, 2013 about 8.30 p.m., the two and two accomplices, who are at large, hired an Opel Vauxhaul taxicab with registration number GT 5056-12 from Tema to VALCO.
On reaching a section of the road, Nana Addo asked to alight so the taxi driver slowed down for him to alight.
There and then Koranu held the neck of the driver, and an accomplice occupying the front seat turned off the ignition of the taxicab and with the assistance of Nana Addo and the other accomplices, the taxi driver was bundled and thrown out of the cab.
One of the accomplices, who is at large, took over the steering wheel, and with the others on board, drove the car away to the Accra Shopping Mall and offered it for sale.
Luck, however, eluded them when policemen who were on their patrol duties got wind of their activities and rounded them up at the shopping mall but the two other accomplices managed to escape.
Facts of the third robbery
The prosecutor, DSP Morkeh, told the court that the complainant, a staff member of Aviation Security who lived at Maamobi, Accra, was on her way to work at the Kotoka International Airport, on October 31, 2013, when the accused emerged from the dark, attacked her and forcibly collected her handbag containing cash of $1,000, GH¢100, one Samsung Galaxy S3 mobile phone and one Asha Nokia mobile phone.
After collecting the handbag, the attacker, Nuhu Musah, a carpenter’s apprentice, who also lived at Maamobi, took to his heels.
On November 11, 2013, with the assistance of the Maamobi Neighbourhood Watch Committee, Musah was arrested and handed over to the police.