Two ex-convicts sentenced to 140 years in prison for robbery

Two ex-convicts who the police say gained notoriety in robbing some residents within Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis of the Western Region have been handed a total of 140 years in prison by the Takoradi Circuit Court.

Thirty-two year-old Nicholas Nana Takyi and Charles Kwame Ampong, who were variously charged with 27 counts of conspiracy to rob and robbery, will serve 50 and 90 years respectively.

They had on their arraignment in 2018, pleaded not guilty to the charges but after full trial, the court presided over by Ms. Abigail Animah Asare found them guilty.

Sentencing them, the court took note of the fact that the two are already “known to the law”, something that necessitated higher sentence.

The two who lived in the same house at Apowa in Takoradi, and had been robbing passengers and residents at the Accra Station at Top Ten, were arrested in October 1, 2018 at about 2:00pm.

The people in the area had been complaining of theft and attacks by the convicts, a situation that forced them to champion their arrest.

According to the prosecution, the convicts were quickly sent to their home where the Police retrieved mobile phones, phone batteries, phone chargers, sim cards, memory cards, ladies footwear’s, ladies dress and schoolbag.

The Police said they “could not give police any reasonable answer as to how they acquired those items”.

One of their victims, according to the prosecution, identified one of the mobile phones as hers and that it was stolen from her shop at the Accra Station at a time that she was dosing off.

Identification parade was subsequently conducted and five other persons including one Isaac Onomah who they had attacked with a knife, identified the convicts as the persons who attacked and robbed them.