Policeman gets 15 years jail-term for robbery

An Accra Circuit Court on Monday sentenced Lance Corporal Benjamin Tekutey, 30, to 15 years imprisonment for robbery.

The Corporal was convicted on his own plea for conspiracy to commit crime.

Mr George Asamaning, the counsel for the convict, prayed the court to have mercy on him since he is a serving policeman and a first time offender.

Besides, he said the convict has two children between the ages of two and six and urged the judge to give him a sentence that would make him come back a reformed person.

In his ruling, Francis Obiri the presiding judge said the conduct of the convict was a disgrace to the Ghana Police Service hence the need for a harsher sentence.

Presenting the facts to the court, the prosecution told the court that on August 4, 2013 at 2200 hours the complainant, one Xiangmei Shen, an engineer with the Chinese Embassy, was driving a Nissan Pickup with registration number CD 2665 X from Spintex Road with two other Chinese nationals on board towards the Chinese Embassy at the Airport Residential Area.

On reaching the Tetteh Quarshie interchange, the accused and his friend, allegedly dressed in police uniform and armed with an AK47 riffle, robbed them of GH¢500, an iPad, two mobile phones and their Nissan Pickup.

The complainant reported the matter to the police after the incident.

The Osu District Commander whilst on night patrol duty the same night, spotted the Nissan Pickup parked opposite the Osu Post Office and brought it to the station.

The prosecution informed the court that when an inspection was conducted in the vehicle, the police found a Nokia mobile phone which was left behind by the suspected robbers.

The mobile phone, according to the prosecution, belonged to Patrick Kobby.

In the course of investigations, the police gathered that it was Lance Corporal Tekutey, a policeman stationed at the Kaketoo Police Station under the Ashaiman Division, and a friend of Kobby, who committed the crime.

The prosecution disclosed to the court that on August 7, 2013 at about 2000 hours, Kobby invited Lance Corporal Tekutey and his wife to a meeting and told them the police had mounted a search for him because of the robbery incident.

Kobby pleaded with the convict to take care of his wife and children should the police arrest him.

The convict, however, was arrested and when he was confronted with the overwhelming evidence available to the police, he broke down and confessed.

According to the prosecution, Lance Corporal Tekutey explained that on the said date, he performed an earlier duty at Axle Loading Centre on the Accra-Tema Motorway.

However, when he closed from duty, he failed to return the weapon and rather used it to carry out the robbery.