Soldier jailed 75 years for robbery
A Sunyani High Court has convicted and sentenced a 42-year-old soldier to a 75-year prison term with hard labour for his involvement in a robbery case that took place in the Brong Ahafo Region.
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The convict, Staff Sargent Alhassan Hameed, was a soldier at the Liberation Barracks of the Third Battalion of Infantry in Sunyani.
Staff Sargent Hameed’s conviction and sentence follows his plea of guilt to the charges preferred against him.
However, his other five civilian accomplices have still not pleaded guilty to their offenses.
Before reading his sentence, the Presiding Judge, Justice Amos Larweh Buertey said, “Because you are trained by the tax payers’ money and you are to protect lives and property of the citizenry, your character therefore does not merit being a good soldier”.
Background
It will be recalled that on Thursday, February 26, this year, the Brong Ahafo Regional Police Command arrested six suspected armed robbers including a soldier at Yawhima near Sunyani who were alleged to be robbing rural banks, micro finance companies and individuals in the region.
The suspects were Staff Sergeant Alhassan Hameed, 42, a military officer at the Liberation Barracks in Sunyani, Sherriff Adams alias Alhaji Fresh, 31, Osei Kuffour, 32, Kwadwo Francis, 25, Edmund Bawuah, 27, and Kwabena Yeboah, 32.
The robbers, who are said to have used an Opel Astra taxi cab with registration number ER 3552 U in their robbery operations, included two drivers.
Briefing the media at the Brong Ahafo Regional Police Headquarters in Sunyani, the Regional Police Crime Officer, Chief Superintendent Alhaji Arhin Maama, said the suspects were arrested at dawn on Thursday, February 26, 2015 at Yawhima near Sunyani.
He said they had earlier in the night stormed BACCSOD Microfinance Company at Wenchi, adding that the robbers tied the watchman, entered the banking hall and took away an unspecified amount of money.
Chief Superintendent Maama said the police, acting upon a tip-off, alerted all patrol teams on duty thus leading to their arrest at the Yawhima police checkpoint.
He said a search conducted on them revealed four mobile phones, two knives, two pistols, two crowbars, one screw driver, one strong decoder, one military uniform, a cutlass as well as several unused cartridges of bullets.
Robbery cases
According to Chief Superintendent Maama, Alhaji Fresh was currently standing trial on a robbery charge at the Sunyani High Court having been granted bail at the Fiapre Circuit court.
He explained that he (Alhaji Fresh) robbed Thonkets Company Limited, distributors of Nestle products in Sunyani, in June last year together with four others.
He said Staff Sergeant Hameed had been on the wanted list of the police for robbery cases in the region.
Chief Superintendent Maama said the suspects had robbed Derma, Bechem and Bormaa rural banks using the same modus operandi where they tied the watchmen and dumped them somewhere, using a taxi cab, while the others conducted the robbery.
Victim identifies one
He said a victim, had identified the soldier and Kojo Francis as having robbed him in Kumasi of his bag containing his laptop, ipad, Samsung Galaxy-5, iPhone-4, six other mobile phones, his passport and 1.5 million CFA.