Three Robbers jailed 125 years

Three  notorious criminals who terrorised and robbed two businessmen in two separate operations at Teshie have been sentenced to a total of 125 years imprisonment with hard labour.

The convicts are Fred Baba, alias Condom, 21; Sowah Tetteh, 25, a labourer and Moses Martei, driver, 30.

A fourth accused person, Yaw Appiah, who was charged for dishonestly receiving was acquitted and discharged by the Accra Circuit court for the prosecution’s inability to prove his guilt.

Sowah Tetteh and Moses Martei were sentenced to 30 years each for conspiracy to commit crime and 45 years each for robbery while Fred Baba was sentenced to 20 years for conspiracy and 35 years for robbery. The sentences are to run concurrently.

Delivering the sentence, the Presiding Judge, Mr Francis Obiri, said armed robbers were not fit to live in the society.

He said the sentence was to serve as a deterrent to others because such a canker should not be entertained.

Facts of the Case

The facts of the case in the first robbery were that at about 2.30 a.m. on August 21, 2012, Fred Baba and three others, who are on the run, attacked the complainant and his eight other brothers, when they were asleep in their house at Mango Street, Teshie Nungua Estate.

Baba and the three others, who were half masked and armed with pump action guns, cutter and hammer, broke into the house of the complainant.

Baba and his accomplices ordered the complainant and his brothers to lie face down.

All the brothers obliged, but the complainant challenge Baba and his accomplices and told them to take whatever they wanted.

Baba and his accomplices then ransacked all the rooms and took six laptops and 13 mobile phones belonging to the complainant and his brothers.

The robbers then took the complainant’s travelling bag, emptied it and loaded it with their booty.

They then tried to bolt with the booty, but the complainant and some of his brothers mustered courage and arrested one of the criminals and subjected him to severe beatings.

In the course of the beatings, he shouted out the name of Baba to come to his aid.

Baba then scaled the wall and jumped into the house and, with his pump action gun, tried to shoot the complainant and his brothers.

At that time, Baba was not wearing a mask.

He was able to assist his colleague and they bolted with the stolen items.

The complainant quickly ran to the police station and lodged a complaint.

He was able to give a vivid description of Baba and the role he played in the robbery and he was arrested at his hideout after a tip-off.

Second Robbery

In the second robbery, Sowah Tetteh and Moses Martei,  who reside at Teshie, agreed on June 25, 2013 to rob their victim.

At about 2.30 a:m, they armed themselves with a sharp machete and went in a Nissan March taxi, with registration number GT 6608 13, driven by Martei to the house of their victim.

On reaching the house, Martei waited in the taxi at the entrance of the house to keep watch, while Tetteh, holding a machete, scaled the wall into the house.

He then forced himself into the room of the complainant and brandishing the cutlass, threatened to butcher the complainant and two other inmates of the room,  if they did not submit to his demand.

In the process , he succeeded in robbing the complainant of two laptop computers, three mobile phones,  a travelling bag and a cash of GH¢250.00.

As if that was not enough, he locked them in their bathroom before leaving the premises to join Martei in the taxi.

The two immediately proceeded to the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to sell their booty but were arrested, and the items retrieved.

During interrogation, they admitted being involved in series of robberies in the metropolis and mentioned Yaw Appiah as the regular receiver of their booty.

They later led the police to arrest Yaw Appiah at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle. When Appiah’s shop was searched, four mobile phones were retrieved which Tetteh admitted were the items he obtained during his earlier robberies which he had sold to Appiah.

By Michael Donkor/Daily Graphic/Ghana