2 Armed robbers jailed 80
“People like you need to be kept away from the society for a very long time so as to protect the lives and property of other persons so that they can go about their normal duties and activities without fear.”
These were the words of the presiding judge of the Swedru Circuit Court, Mr Jonathan Desmond Nunoo, when he sentenced two armed robbers to a total of 80 years in prison.
Advertisement
The convicts, Isaac Essien, alias ‘Taadi’, 24, unemployed, and Abudu Alhassan, alias ‘Redoo’, a driver’s mate, were charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit crime and robbery.
They pleaded not guilty to the charges but were found guilty by the court at the end of the trial last Thursday.
Each of them was handed a 40-year jail term for the two counts to run concurrently.
The judge indicated that due to the crime they committed they needed to be sentenced to deter other like-minded individuals from committing similar crime.
Facts
Presenting the facts of the case, the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Joshua Otoo, said the complainant in the case was the assembly member of the Gomoa Jukwa electoral area in the Gomoa West District.
He said Essien was a native of Agona Bobikuma while Alhassan was a resident of Gomoa Aboso, near Agona Swedru and brother in-law of a taxi driver, Justice Dadzie, now deceased.
He stated that on March17, 2019 at about 10 a.m, the two convicts approached the taxi driver who was driving a Hyundai I 10 with registration number GW 9717-18 in Agona Swedru.
Driver attacked
Chief Inspector Otoo said the convicts hired the services of Dadzie and asked him to take them to Gomoa Abrekum to which he obliged.
On reaching a section of the feeder road towards the town, few metres away from the Accra-Cape Coast highway, the two men pulled a machete, slashed Dadzie and snatched his car from him.
He said a road user saw the driver lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the road and quickly informed the assembly member of the area who alerted the police to the sad incident.
The prosecutor added that the police swiftly moved to the scene, saw the victim lying in a pool of blood unconscious and quickly rushed him to the Trauma and Specialist hospital in Winneba for emergency medical care where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
He stated that on March 18, 2021, Essien was arrested in his hideout at Takoradi with the taxi and in his caution statement, he mentioned Alhassan and Kwame Yoghurt (at large) as his accomplices.
After investigations, a duplicate docket was forwarded to the Attorney-General’s Department for advice and that a fiat from the AG’s Office instructed that the accused persons be charged for robbery and murder.