Ex-convict to serve 15 years in jail over computer theft

Kumasi, March 23, GNA – Mohammed Sadique Adams, an ex-convict, has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment over the theft of laptop computers belonging to two students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

This was after he pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful entry and stealing during his trial at a Kumasi Circuit Court presided over by Mr William Boampong.

Adams, 23, a former student of the KNUST, had been withdrawn by the university, over a similar offence for which he was prosecuted and sentenced to a fine.

The court would not be swayed by his plea for mercy and leniency or promise to give up on his bad ways, if given another chance.

“Why didn’t you change after the first offence?” the Judge asked, as he imposed stiffer punishment on him.

Police Inspector Gulliver Kwabena Tenkorang said two students - Ama Akyere Yiadom, and Hannah Hanson, had locked the door to their West-End Hostel room and left for church service on February 13, at about 1700 hours.

Adams, who had been monitoring them, picked the keys from where they had hidden it, unlocked, entered the room and made off with two laptop computers valued at GH¢2,950.00.

They detected the theft on their return and consequently informed the porter.

The prosecution said the convict had been captured on close circuit television (CCTV), footage and so when he went back three days later, apparently to commit another crime, he was arrested and handed over to the police.

He confessed to stealing the computers and said he gave them to a friend to be sold.