Two jailed 24 years for robbery at Ejura

A Circuit Court in Nsuta has sentenced two robbers to 24 years imprisonment for robbing a student of his Tecno Phanthom 9 mobile phone at gun-point at Ejura in the Ashanti Region.

According to the fact sheet of the case, the victim, Gyasi Mensah Stephen, a resident of Brigade, a suburb of Ejura was returning home from Kumasi on July 2, 2020 at 11 pm.

Upon reaching, Brigade near a bridge, the suspects, Benjamin Konadu and Mansuru Zakari attacked the victim with a jackknife and robbed him of the phone valued at GHC1500 which contained two iTunes scratch cards valued at $1,600 equivalent GHC9,000.

He said, Benjamin Konadu who was holding the jackknife ordered the victim to unlock the phone and demanded for the password on the phone.

On July 5, 2020, the accused persons swapped the Tecno Phantom phone with another suspect named Amakye Frimpong who is a mobile phone dealer where the latter added GHC270.00 together with two Samsung phones valued at GHC150 per each phone to Benjamin Konadu and Mansuru Zakari and took the Tecno Phantom phone.

ASP. Kyei Sarpong added that on 2nd August, the victim reported the matter to the police where the suspect was arrested. Exhibit Tecno phone retrieved from the third suspect was malfunctioning and could not find the iTunes cards on the phone.

All three suspects admitted the offences in their respective investigation caution statements given to the police.

According to suspect Benjamin Konadu, he threw the jackknife away in a nearby bush where he together with Mansuru Zakari led the police and victim to the scene and showed the police where he allegedly dropped the jackknife.

A search was conducted at the scene but could not find the knife. After investigations, all three suspects were charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and robbery.