Two jailed 60 years for stealing GH¢380

Two persons have been slapped with a combined jail term of 60 years by an Accra Circuit Court.

Unemployed 21-year-old Abdul Rashid Issah and Abubakari Iddrisu who is a 27-year-old mason were found guilty of charges of robbery after they pleaded not guilty to the charges and their case taken through trial.

According to a report by myjoyonline.com, the two robbed a taxi driver, Nicholas Aglobi, of his cellular phones, power bank and an amount of ¢30.

The prosecution officer, Police Chief Inspector William Kwabena Boateng during trial told the Court presided over by Afia Owusua Appiah that, the taxi driver who is a complainant in the case is a resident of Sakaman, a suburb of Dansoman.

According to the prosecutor, Issah and Iddrisu who are residents of Tunga and Zammrama Line respectively on April 25, 2019, at about 02:30 hours, stopped Nicholas who was driving his Daewoo Matiz taxi cab with registration number GC 1255-13 around Dansoman Exhibition Roundabout, and ordered a trip to Tunga to which the driver obliged.

The prosecution told the court that upon the taxi reaching the requested destination, Iddrisu, who was sitting in the back seat suddenly pulled a knife from his trousers and pointed same at the complainant.

The 27-year-old according to the prosecution threatened the taxi driver to hand over all his money and phones or risk being stabbed to death.

The police inspector said Issah who was also in the front seat of the car, quickly took possession of the complainant’s Samsung Galaxy ‘S’ Mobile phone valued at ¢200, Vodafone mobile phone valued at ¢100, a Power Bank valued at ¢50, as well as an amount of ¢30, bringing the total value to ¢380.

The robbers according to Chief Inspector Boateng went ahead to remove the ignition key of the taxi cab and threw it away before dashing into the dark of the night.

Nicholas Aglobi later found his ignition key in search which caused him to meet one Salif Awudu, who became a witness in the case.

Few minutes after meeting Salif and explaining his plight to him, the complainant according to the prosecution identified Issah who was passing by in the area and thus led the complainant and the witness to effect his arrest.

The two upon searching Issah retrieved the complainant’s Samsung Galaxy phone from him and went ahead to hand him over to the police at a nearby station where he was re-arrested.

Chief Inspector Boateng told the court that a search by the police on Issah led to the retrieval of some ¢8 being part of the money they robbed the complainant of.

The prosecution noted that Issah in his caution statement admitted the offence and named Iddrisu as his accomplice.

The police subsequently were led to arrest the accomplice in his house.

Nicholas Aglobi’s Vodafone phone, Power Bank, and a cash sum of ¢20 were retrieved from Iddrisu upon his arrest.

The court in pronouncing judgement in the case sentenced the two to a 30-year imprisonment sentence each in hard labour.

The court further issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Abubakari Iddrisu who was absent in court during sentencing and was thus sentenced in absentia.