He was charged with causing unlawful damage, stealing and escaping from lawful custody
The Koforidua Circuit Court ‘B’ presided over by Her Honour, Janet Animah Marfo, has convicted to prison, a 26-year-old taxi driver, Ebenezer Elo, two years and three months for stealing and escaping from police custody.
He was charged with causing unlawful damage, stealing and escaping from lawful custody.
He pleaded guilty to the charges of stealing and escape from police custody but not guilty to causing unlawful damage, hence, the two years sentence slapped on him.
However, during the cause of the trial on the first count of causing damage some days latter, the convict raised his hands to admit the offence and told the Judge to sentence him.
The Presiding Judge, therefore, convicted him to three(3) months in addition to the two-year jail term on Friday.
The facts of the case presented by the Prosecutor, Chief Inspector Emmanuel Owusu Bronyah, is that complainant in the case is Stephen Tetteh, an auto electrician residing at Koforidua Zongo while the convict is a taxi driver, a resident at Korle -Nkwanta a suburb of New Juaben.
He said on November 10, 2017, at about 7 am, the convict who was in charge of a Opel Astra Taxi Cab with registration number GW 403 -14 drove to the shop of the complainant at Faila Junction in Koforidua, broke into the shop by damaging the door padlock and managed to steal ten(10) 15- plate car batteries valued GHS 2,500 packed by the complainant an hour before .
The Prosecutor added that the taxi driver then drove off and attempted to sell the batteries to a scrap dealer but was rejected.The convict then proceeded to another scrap dealer, Hafiz Sadu and sold the items at the cost of GHS 730.
Chief Inspector Bronyah said the convict was arrested by Police upon a tip at his hideout.
The convict then led the Police to the scrap dealer who bought the stolen items.
The scrap dealer explained that the convict misled him into buying the items.
On November 14, 2017, the convict who was handcuffed escaped from Police custody into a bush near the Regional Police Headquarters at Koforidua but was given a hot chase and subsequently arrested.
