Two fined Ghc1,200 for stealing three fowls

Two young men have been ordered by a court to cough up GHc1,200 to settle separate fines of GHc600 slapped on each of them for stealing three fowls from a poultry farm.

Elvis Ofori, 23, a second-hand clothes dealer, and Richard Adu, a student of the Dormaa Ahenkro Vocational Training Centre, were arrested after a witness led a team of policemen to their house at Amomaso while in the process of using one of the fowls they had stolen from a poultry farm to prepare soup.

The two confessed to the crime of stealing when they were apprehended, but claimed they only stole a fowl and not three as alleged.

The Wamfie Magistrate Court, presided over by Mr Akosah Yaw Amaniampong, subsequently sentenced Ofori and Adu to a fine of GHc600 each after they pleaded guilty to conspiracy and stealing.

They would serve six months in prison each, if they default in paying the fine.

Briefing The Mirror, the Dormaa Municipal Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mahamud Yusif, said the complainant in the case was a poultry farmer at Dormaa.

He said at about 11p.m. on September 26, 2013, Ofori and Adu went to the poultry farm at Amomaso with the intention to steal.

Mr Yusif said while at the farm, Ofori broke into one of the coops while Adu stood outside to watch out for signs of people coming close to where they were committing the crime.

He said Ofori managed to catch three of the birds and gave them to Adu to put in a sack.

He said while Adu was keeping watch, he spotted the security man at the poultry farm coming towards them and he signaled Ofori, who immediately sneaked out of the coop.

Mr Yusif said while they were running away, a witness in the case spotted them and a complaint was lodged with the police.

He said during police investigations, the witness, on September 30, 2013, led the police to the home of Ofori and Adu and they were arrested while they were in the process of preparing one of the fowls for soup.