18 -year-old unemployed jailed to 20 years for robbery

The Abuakwa Circuit Court in the Atwima Nwabiagya South District of the Ashanti Region on Tuesday July 25, 2023 sentenced an 18 year old unemployed, Philip Arhin to twenty years imprisonment for robbery.

The court, however, granted his accomplice, Desmond Opoku who pleaded not guilty GHS 100,000 bail with three sureties to be justified.

The convict, Philip Arhin pleaded guilty to all the two counts of conspiracy to commit crime and robbery.

The prosecutor Police Insp. Evans Ayibisa, presented the facts of the case to the court presided over by Her Honour, Maame Efuah Tordimah.

Facts

Insp. Evans Ayibisa revealed that, on July 15, 2023, the complainant reported that on the same day around 7:45pm, he and his wife went to church at Sepaase and while returning home around 11:45pm, the accused person armed with a cutlass and a pair of scissors respectively, attacked them on a section of Sepaase Adwafo road and robbed them of the items listed on the charge sheet.

According to the prosecution, on July 16, 2023 around 2:30pm, the complainant spotted Philip Arhin who was in possession of Samsung J5 phone being one of the phones robbed from them and sought for the assistance of some town folks who arrested Philip Arhin and handed him over together with the exhibit to the Police.

Accused person (A1) in his investigation caution statement mentioned Accused person (A2) as his source of the phone and denied his involvement in the alleged robbery. A1 led Police to the house of A2 for his arrest but did not find him in his house.

On July 17, 2023, at 8:30am, Police had information that A2 has been admitted at Akropong Government Hospital as a result of a mob action he suffered from a robbery he embarked on at Mfensi.

Police acted on the information and went to the above hospital and found A2 badly injured on admission receiving treatment. A2 was arrested and place under guard and was later discharged to assist with investigation.

A2 admitted the offence and in his investigation caution statement and mentioned A1 as his accomplice. The accused persons led Police to a bush at Adwafo where they discarded the complainant’s wife's hand bag.

The scene was carefully combed and the handbag was found containing the complainant’s ECOWAS card, wrist watch, a spectacle and an empty wallet.

Investigation disclosed that that on July 15, 2023 around 10:45pm, A1 armed with a cutlass and A2 armed with a pair of scissors conspired to lay in wait at Sepaase Basic school premises looking for a victim(s) to attack and rob. Whilst waiting for a victim, A1 signaled A2 that they have gotten a prey approaching.

They trailed the complainant’s and his wife to a section of the Adwafo road where they threatened to harm them and eventually succeeded in robbing them of the items listed on the charge sheet. The accused persons claimed they sold the other two phones to some passersby in town. After investigation, they were charged with the offences.