Three taxi snatchers to serve 120 years in jail
For threatening a taxi driver with a sharp knife to hand over his taxicab to them, three Kumasi-based robbers, who succeeded in snatching the taxi, are to spend 40 years each in jail.
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Akwasi Adembe, 32, a driver, Kofi Boah, alias White, 28, a petty trader, and Paul Faaman, alias Amboley, 28, also a driver, blindfolded the taxi driver after they succeeded in snatching his taxi, sealed his mouth with Sellotape before dumping him in an abandoned vehicle at Atwima Koforidua, near Abuakwa.
The robbers then sent the taxi to a spraying workshop in Kumasi for the sprayer to change the colour from a commercial car into a private one for them to sell. However, in the process of transacting the business, the three were arrested and charged with the offence of robbery.
They pleaded not guilty to the charge, but after the trial, the court, presided over by Mr Emmanuel Amoo-Yartey, found them guilty of the offence.
Presenting the facts of the case to the court, a state Attorney, Mr Emmanuel Lawrence Otoo-Boison, said on January 4, 2013, the complainant was in charge of a taxi, and around 8pm that day, the robbers, including one Rocky, now at large, hired his taxi in front of the Suame Police Station and told him to drive them to Point Five at Kwadaso, a Kumasi suburb.
He said on reaching the Asuoyeboah SSNIT Flats area, Adembe, Boah and Faaman pulled out a sharp knife and threatened to kill the driver if he resisted in handing over the taxi to them.
According to Mr Otoo-Boison, the robbers then blindfolded the driver and to prevent him from making any noise, they sealed his mouth with a Sellotape and sent him to Atwima Koforidua, where they dumped him in an abandoned vehicle.
Mr Otto-Boison said after their action, Adembe, Boah and Faaman changed the registration number of the taxi and sent it to Buokrom, a Kumasi suburb, where they called one Prince K. Prempeh on phone that they had finished with the operation.
He said Prempeh also directed them to send the taxi to an auto sprayer, one Paul Owusu Bempah, to change the colour into a private car.
He said the following day, Adembe, Boah, Faaman and Prempeh met and he (Prempeh) offered to give them GH¢5,000, for successfully undertaking the operation, and gave them GH¢500 as part payment.
Mr Otoo-Boison said five days later, Adembe was arrested by the Suntreso Police on a different case and in the course of their investigations, the taxi driver who happened to be there readily identified Adembe as one of the robbers who snatched his car on January 4, 2013.
He said Adembe admitted the offence and quickly led the police to the sprayer who was in the process of changing the colour, and retrieved the car.
Mr Otoo-Boison said the sprayer also led the police to arrest Prempeh who also led them to arrest Boah and Faaman.
He said police were still looking for Rockey.
By George Ernest Asare / The Mirror / Ghana