2 fined GHC9,600 for carrying gun

An Accra Circuit Court has sentenced two persons to a total fine of GHC9,600 for carrying an unlicensed gun.

The two, Peter David Assandoh, a 25-year-old student, and his accomplice Matthew Kojo Semereka, 56-year-old trader, were arrested at Sahara, a suburb of Dansoman in the Greater Accra Region on March 16, 2018.

They were picked up by the Dansoman police patrol team after a tip-off that the convicts were harassing residents in the area.

Assandoh and Seremeka were hauled before the court charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit crime, possession of firearm without lawful authority and carrying offensive weapon.

They both pleaded guilty to the charges and were convicted on their own pleas by the presiding judge, Mr Aboagye Tandoh.

Assandoh was sentenced to a fine of GH¢4,800 or in default serve six months in jail for conspiracy to commit crime, while he was also charged GH¢2,400 for possession of firearms both to run concurrently.

Seremeka, on the other hand, was sentenced to a fine of GH¢4,800 for carrying offensive weapon and risks spending three months in jail if he fails to pay the fine.

Chief Inspector Kwabena Adu told the court that on March 16, 2018 at about 3:00am, the Dansoman police patrol team received information from the police headquarters control room through an unknown caller that some men were harassing residents at Dansoman Sahara and its environs.

He said the patrol team proceeded to the area and met the convicts walking together and during a search conducted on them, a foreign pistol with live ammunition was found in Assandoh’s pocket.

He told the court that the police during investigations searched the convict’s rooms and a bayonet was found in Assandoh’s room.

In another development, the court has remanded two persons into custody for robbery.

The suspects, David Akwesi Adotey, 28, unemployed, and Daniel Odai Afoey, 24, unemployed, according to Chief Inspector Kwabena Adu went to the complainant’s house at Oyibi in the Greater Accra Region on March 2, 2018 where they ransacked his room.

He said the suspects allegedly made away with two mobile phones valued at GH¢600, a cash amount of GH¢380, CFA 400 and US$100.

He told the court that the two were arrested and the complainant at a police identification parade identified them as the ones who robbed him.

They are facing two counts of conspiracy and robbery to which they pleaded not guilty.

They were remanded by the court to reappear on April 20, 2018.