Court jails car dealer for robbery

An Accra Circuit Court has sentenced Ali Ibrahim, a car dealer charged for robbery to 21 years imprisonment in hard labour.

Ali, who is also an ex-convict pleaded not guilty and was jailed after a full trial.

Mr Aboagye Tandoh, the presiding Judge sentencing the convict said per the evidence before the court Ali played a key role in the robbery but could not escape like his accomplices.

He said the convict being an energetic young man should have channeled his energy to other productive activities to support the development of the country.

The Court dropped a charge of conspiracy against the convict for lack of evidence.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector K. Adu, told the Court, that the complainant in the case was a student of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.

He said on February 28, at about 1000 hours, a witness in the case saw Ali in front of the complainant’s house knocking at the gate.

He said the witness approached Ali who said he needed a room to rent but had been told that the complainant had gone out.

He said on March 14, at about 0900 hours, the complainant and the wife were returning from town and as soon as they got to their gate, Kweku and Dela, now at large, pointed a pistol at them and ordered the complainant and his wife to hand over the ignition key of their car to them else they would shoot them.

The prosecution said, the complainant’s wife, who was driving handed over the key to one of them.

He said the complainant later came out of the car, shouted for help where neighbors rushed to the scene and arrested Ali, who was then about to join his accomplices in the car.

“On March 16, the Police had information that the car had been abandoned at Bentum spot at Kwashieman,” he said.