NSOC 008

Social Court Sentence Carpenter jailed 15 months for stealing a pig

Ajumako(C/R), Nov. 29, GNA - The Ajumako District Magistrate Court presided over by Mr Kwesi Boakye Enimil, has sentenced a 32-year-old carpenter, Kwesi Abaka, to 15 months imprisonment in hard labour for stealing a pig valued at GH¢130. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced upon his own plea. Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector G.K. Awuye told the court that t= he complainant, Mr Martin Yeboah Asante, a poultry and livestock farmer, sta= yed in the same area with the accused at Breman Benin in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District.

That on November 19 this year, the complainant left for Mankessim in=

the Central Region putting his poultry under the care of his wife. According to the prosecutor, the accused took advantage of the absen= ce of the complainant and killed one of his pigs which he carried in a sack to his residence and later sought for a prospective buyer. Chief Inspector Awuye said the buyer happened to be a regular custom= er of the complainant. The customer, Mr Kwame Asiedu later phoned the complainant to ascert= ain whether he had detailed the accused to sell any pig, to which the complainant responded in the negative. The complainant and the customer alerted the police while the custom= er went in to bargain over the pig. Some minutes later, the police the complainant and the customer went= to arrest the accused in his house, where they found the blood-soaked sack o= n his veranda. Upon police interrogation the accused admitted having stolen=

the pig and was arraigned before the court. The prosecutor told the court that the youth at Breman Benin and surrounding villages had resorted to stealing fresh cocoa beans and other=

items and that the court should deal drastically with the accused to serv= e as a deterrent to the youth in the area.