Serial taxi thief sentenced to 25 years imprisonment

The Tema Court ‘A’ has sentenced Eric Gyimah, a serial taxi thief, to 25 years imprisonment in hard labour for robbing Daniel Azure of his Toyota Vitz taxi.

Gyimah, who had received a 15-year sentence for a similar offence a few days ago, pleaded not guilty to the charge of robbery but was pronounced guilty by the court after a full trial.

The court presided over by Agnes Opoku Banie also ordered that Gyimah should refund Gh₵15,000 that he stole from the complainant to him.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) George Doe, prosecuting, said that while the complainant, a taxi driver, resides at Kasoa Amanfrom in the Central Region, the convict is a businessman residing at Adidome in the Volta Region.

The prosecution said that on May 18, 2023, at about 1340 hours, the complainant was in charge of a light grey and yellow Toyota Vitz taxi driving within Accra when the convict and two other men, now at large, hired his services to convey them to a building site at the Central University area in Dawhenya to enable them to take pictures of the said building under construction for their brother overseas.

He said Gyimah sat in the front passenger seat while the two other men sat at the back. On reaching the Aflao Highway, a few metres after the Central University, they directed the complainant to branch onto a rough road leading to the supposed site.

The facts had it that on reaching a portion of the rough road, Gyimah asked the complainant to stop, which he did. Then, the convict and the two men alighted from the taxi, telling the complainant to wait for them while they went and took pictures of the building and returned.

He added that they returned and sat again in their various seats in the taxi and asked the complainant to drive back towards the main road. On their way back, the two men in the back seat hooked the neck of the complainant with a rope and pulled his neck against the seat while the convict pulled a knife on him.

The prosecution further stated that the complainant, who held on to the knife, sustained some knife cuts on his right palm as Gyimah pulled it and inflicted multiple wounds on his leg. 

According to the prosecution, the convict then turned off the car engine, which stopped, and he forcibly took the ignition sensor, which was then hooked to the complainant’s belt hole.

The convict, together with his accomplices, then came out of the car, held the complainant, pulled him out, and dumped him into a pool of water collected in a hole on the road.

The convict then drove the taxi away with his accomplice sitting in it, and the complainant’s Samsung A11 mobile phone valued at Gh₵ 1,600.00, his AMA licence, and his driver’s licence also in it.

The prosecution said the complainant then staggered to his feet and proceeded to the Dawhenya police station, where he made a complaint.

He said that during investigations, the said taxicab was spotted in a mechanic shop at Sogakope with a new number plate embossed on it, adding that the mechanics mentioned Agbodzahu Wobube, a nurse, as the one who brought the taxicab for repairs.

Agbodzalu Wobubo was then arrested, and upon investigation, it was mentioned that the convict was the one who sold the taxicab to him for Gh₵30,000.

Wobubo then led the police to arrest Gyimah, whom the complainant subsequently identified as one of his attackers.