Crane operator gets 15 years in hard labour

A Circuit Court at Gbetsile, near Tema, has sentenced crane operator Rudy Agyemang to 15 years imprisonment in hard labour for robbing, contrary to Section 149 of the Criminal Offences Act 1960.

The court, presided over by Mrs. Eleanor Kakra Banes Botchway, sentenced the accused after a full trial of which the court found him guilty and convicted.

Inspector Maxwell Ayeh, prosecuting, said the complainants are Emmanuel Frimpong is a teacher, Bright Mensah Akpese is a building contractor, and Richard Jojo Wilson and Sunday Okafor are entrepreneurs, all residents at Castle Gate Estate, Mataheko/Afienya.

According to the Prosecution, the accused, Agyemang is a crane operator and lives at Valco Flats, Ashaiman.

He said on August 28, 2023, at about 1000 hours, the Afienya District Police Rovers received a distress call from the complainants of a robbery attack on them at their residence.

The Police Rovers responded swiftly to the scene and saw four men, some carrying back packs and others with travelling bags, in the compound of the house, as described on the phone to the Police.

He said the men included the accused who upon seeing the police took to their heels, but was pursued, and arrested at a distance in an old foundation trench.

The three who escaped abandoned their bags whilst an immediate search conducted on the bags revealed nine assorted laptop computers and one MP3 player.

Inspector Ayeh said one Sunday Okafor, later identified the items as his and that they were the things the accused and his accomplices robbed them of.

He said on that same day Agyemang led the police to the house of Bright Mensah Akpese, where he and his accomplices scaled a fenced wall into the compound.

Inspector Ayeh said he used cement blocks to cause damage to the backdoor to the kitchen and the one leading to the living room. He also identified the

accused as the one who fired a gun through his kitchen window and caused damage to it.

The accused again took the Police to the residence of complainants Emmanuel Frimpong, Richard Jojo Wilson, and Sunday Okafor and demonstrated how he and his accomplices, now at large, broke into their rooms and robbed them of their computers, laptops, and Samsung mobile phones.

Two spent AAA cartridges, which the accused and his accomplices fired at the scene, were found at the compound and retrieved. A blue face mask and a knife were found in the bathroom of the complainants.

After the investigation, the accused was charged with the offences and arraigned.