An ex-convict gets 20 years for robbery

Baba Musah, a 21-year-old notorious armed robber based at Awona Nkwana in the Western Region, has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by the Tarkwa Circuit Court.

The convict was recently jailed by the same court for committing a similar offense.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit crime and robbery.

Police Chief Inspector Faustina Celestina Anaman told the court that the complainant, one Mr Ren Jianle, a foreman of Chna Sing Zhan dynamite company in Awona Nwanta, near Bogoso, lived in the same area with the convict, and his accomplices, Anthony Boafo, 15, and Budo a suspect on the run.

According to the Prosecutor, Musah and Budo visited Boafo in his Uncle’s residence at Beppoh and planned to rob the complainant's company.

She said Boafo agreed to join them and they all boarded a vehicle to the company's yard.

Inspector Anaman said when Musah and his accomplices arrived at the crime scene they noticed that the main gate leading to the company's premises was locked so they jumped over the fence into the yard.

The Prosecutor said the workers who were then busily going about the day's work on seeing them took to their heels for fear of their lives, but the complainant was trapped in a room within the yard and Musah, Boafo and Budo assaulted him with clubs.

They then took away an amount of GH¢1,000, a pump action gun, two mobile phones and a solar scale machine all valued GH¢10,500.

Inspector Anaman said when the police had the information and went to the scene, they found the complainant unconscious with a fractured left leg.

She said the complainant was sent to the El-Shiva clinic at Bawdie for treatment and was later referred to the Effia Nwanta Hospital at Sekondi for further treatment.

The Prosecution said on July 12, at 2300 hours, Musah and Boafo were arrested at Atonsuagya village near Ejura in the Ashanti Region upon a tip-off.

She said when the police conducted a search in Musah's room the solar scale machine was retrieved.

Inspector Anaman said the convict also claimed that he sold the pump action gun to one Ray in Kumasi for GH¢50.

The Prosecutor said Boafo has also been remanded in police custody whilst efforts are being made to apprehend Budo.