19 year-old student jailed 30 years for robbery

Kumasi, Aug. 27, GNA - A 19 year old student of the Kumasi Technical Institute (KTI), was on Thursday sentenced by a Kumasi Circuit Court to 30 years in jail for robbery. Louis Cudjoe, alias "Captain Atemuda" pleaded guilty. His accomplice, Richard Ayana, is however on the run. Police Chief Inspector Nana Fosu told the court presided over by Mr Emmanuel Amoh-Yartey that, Cudjoe resided at Kaase whilst the complainant, Joseph Kasapoe, a student of the University of Development Studies resided at Ahensan, all in Kumasi. He said the complainant, during the university's semester break, was given money by three of his colleagues to purchase computer laptops for them.

On August 21, this year, Cudjoe paid a visit to one Dennis Browne Akari, a nephew of the complainant at their Ahinsan residence. There, the convict told Akari about his plans to go to Anloga in Kumasi for charms for spiritual fortification. Chief Inspector Fosu said, Kasapoe, who was meeting Cudjoe for the first time, enquired about his identity from Akari and learned he was a former student of the Good Shepherd Junior High School, just opposite their house.

Later in the day, at about 1200 noon, the convict returned to the house to charge the battery of his cell phone and used the opportunity to survey the room and spotted the laptops. Chief Inspector Fosu said three days on, at about 1700 hours, Akari received a telephone call from Cudjoe, who wanted to know his whereabouts at the time and he told him he was out of the house. All this while, the convict had hatched a plan with Ayana to attack and rob the complaint of the laptops. Armed with a knife and locally manufactured pistol, they struck at about 1900 hours on August 24, robbed the complainant of his Dorado mobile phone and the three laptops. Police Chief Inspector Fosu said Kasapoe managed to raise the alarm, attracting people in the neighbourhood who gave the robbers a chase. Realizing that the people were catching up with him, Cudjoe and Ayana dropped the computers. He however ran out of luck as he was arrested and handed over to the police. The mother of the convict wept uncontrollably as the judge pronounced judgement, while the father pleaded for out-of-court settlement.