Court jails Nigerian 50 years for armed robbery

Aflao, Jan.14, GNA - A 24-year-old Nigerian who robbed a man of his mobile phones at knife point while the victim was attending to nature's c= all at the beach , was on Monday jailed 50 years in hard labour by an Aflao Circuit Court.

Emmanuel Okey, a barber, pleaded not guilty to robbery but the court found him guilty. His two accomplices, names not available, managed to escape arrest an= d are still at large. The Presiding Judge, Mr. Francis Obiri, in his judgment said that the=

likes of Okey are dangerous elements, whose activities often left many as=

orphans and widows, destroying happiness in many homes and therefore required a punishment that would serve as a deterent. Police Chief Inspector Josephine Azukah told the court that at about 22.00 hours on December 12, last year, the complainant, Wisdom Fofo, an Electrician, in the company of his wife, visited the beach at Aflao for nature's call, following the closure of public places of convenience in h= is area.

While in the process, she said Okey, also resident at Aflao and two others, appeared and ordered the complainant at knive edge to surrender a= ll valuables on him to them, and finally stripped the complainant of his dresses containing two mobile phones valued at about GH¢500.

She said the complainant's wife raised the alarm and residents nearby=

pursued the robbers leading to Okey's arrest and the retrieval of the complainant's dresses and one of the phones from him, but the other two escaped arrest. In his defense, the convict told the court that he was at the beach f= or nature's call when the complainant, due to a long standing grudge between=

them, engaged him in a fight and he took to his heels as the complainant pulled out a knife to stab him.