Crime

Court sentences two 32 years for robbing mobile money vendor

THE two men who attacked a mobile money vendor at the Ho C. K. Road and robbed him of six cellular phones and GH¢8,000 last week Monday have been sentenced to a total of 32 years’ imprisonment in hard labour by the Ho Circuit Court.

Emmanuel Akaboah, 33, a married father of one and Sefadzi Ameviwogbe, a married father of three will each serve 16 years behind bars.

They pleaded guilty.

The court presided over by Mrs Priscilla Dikro Ofori, was told that Ameviwogbe, who had monitored the activities of the vendor (name withheld) for some time, masterminded the robbery.

According to the prosecution, the incident took place at about in 7:40pm.

During the attack, Akaboah who was wielding a locally-manufactured gun fired shorts repeatedly to put fear in the vendor, before seizing the bag containing the cash and the assorted cellular phones, the court was further told.

The prosecution said that a shout for help by the vendor and bystanders attracted a police officer from the Volta Regional Special Weapons and Tactical Team (SWAT) who defied further gunshots from Akaboah to demonstrate a great sense of tenacity as he pursued and arrested the fleeing robbers.

A third suspect whose name was only given as Mohammed was on the run, the prosecution revealed.

After their arrest, Akaboah described himself to the police as a career driver while Ameviwogbe claimed to be a businessman.

Passing sentence, the court said that it took into account the fact that the two robbers showed remorse for the offence they committed and readily pleaded guilty.

Furthermore, most of the items stolen by the robbers had been retrieved, the court noted.

Meanwhile, the Volta Regional Police Commander, DCOP E. Oduro-Kwateng has entreated business owners, to finish their operations early and be security conscious always to void such attacks.

He urged the public to readily volunteer information on the activities of suspicious characters on their places of abode.

Some members of the public have lauded the police for the swift manner in which they processed the robbers for court.

FROM ALBERTO MARIO NORETTI, HO

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