Two-time ex-convict sentenced for attempted robbery
A two-time ex-convict who was once pardoned under the Justice for All programme, was last Friday sentenced to 25 years imprisonment by the Wa Circuit Court following a high-profile attempted robbery incident.
Advertisement
Ibrahim Adams, 33, was convicted of attempted robbery and causing harm after a trial that lasted 46 days. The two counts were for 25 years each, but would run concurrently.
An accomplice of Adams during the attempted robbery is currently on the run, and the Upper West Regional police command has mounted a search for him.
While his two previous jail sentences – 18 months in April 2012 and four years in September 2014 – were occasioned by stealing, his latest adventure carried more fury in the violence and sophistication in the application of weapon.
The trial judge, Mr Baah Forson Agyapong, said he took notice of contradictions in the accounts of the convict and his own witness – who happened to be his uncle – during the trial process, and indicated that the prosecution had proven the guilt of the convict beyond reasonable doubt despite the convict’s not-guilty plea.
Judgement
Pronouncing judgement, the judge said he took into consideration several factors, including the fact that the convict was already known to the law, the prevalence of robberies within the Wa Municipality and the degree of harm caused by Adams to one of his victims in the attempted robbery.
Indeed, that victim, Harry Amankwah, a level 400 student on the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies, was still hospitalised at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi following deep machete wounds inflicted on his body by Adams on the night of July 2, 2017.
{loadmodule mod_banners,Nativead1}
Heroism
It was the heroic efforts of Amankwah’s roommate, Kwaku Onyime (also a Level 400 student on the same campus), in battling and overpowering the machete-wielding Adams with his bare hands that saved the two students and consequently foiled the robbery.
The facts of the case, according to the prosecutor, Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Yeboah, were that Adams and his accomplice knocked on the door of the two students at their hostel in Bamahu, a suburb of Wa, around 9 p.m. of July 2, 2017.
He said Amankwah opened the door, but tried to close it again when he saw Adams with a masked face and a machete. But Adams fought his way into the room with his weapon, and left Amankwah screaming for help on the floor in a pool of blood.
Onyime, who was on his bed at the time of the intrusion, folded his cover cloth and used it as a shield as Adams went wild with his machete swings.
The prosecutor said Adams lost his bearing momentarily at a point when Onyime threw his cloth over him. Onyime, armed with sheer courage, struggled with Adams and took his machete before cutting him deep under the left elbow, compelling the robber to flee the room.
During the struggle in the room, the mask fell from the face of Adams revealing his identity, but he pulled it back before fleeing the room.
It was when he tried to chase Adams that Onyime saw his accomplice who had apparently kept watch outside. The two bolted on a motorbike, with the accomplice firing gunshots.
Arrest
Onyime, with the help of neighbours, sent the badly wounded Amankwah to the Wa Regional Hospital where he alerted nurses on duty to the prospect of a patient coming for treatment with a serious machete wound.
Indeed, Adams arrived in no time with his bleeding arm, accompanied by his uncle, and when Onyime saw him, he reported him to some policemen around the area.
His account of issues were confirmed by subsequent investigations, including finding the blood-stained mask just seven metres from Adams’ home, and the blood-stained shirt he wore for the robbery – as described by Onyime – in his room.
Adams, who had told his uncle that he sustained the injury during a fight with one Aminu, could not find anyone to corroborate his story.