Somanya mango thieves busted

Two persons have been fined by a Somanya Magistrate Court for allegedly stealing mangoes from the farms of the Farm Management Services Limited (FMSL) at Akuni, near Somanya in the Eastern Region.

The accused were fined a total of GHc4,800 or in default serve 15 months each in prison.

Both pleaded guilty to the charges of conspiracy to steal and stealing.

Somey Cyrille, 23, and Abla Debrah, 39, were dragged to the court after a complaint was lodged with the police.

The accused on Tuesday, January 2, 2018 conspired to steal mangoes worth GHc1,000 from the farms of FMSL.

A third suspect in the case, John Kwetey, a taxi driver whose services were hired by Abla Debrah was however acquitted and discharged.

The Chief Inspector Francis Danyo, told the court that the complainant in the case, Benjamin Tetteh, 37, is a security man at the FMSL farms and resides at Akuni Number 2 while Somey Cyrille is a farmer, who doubles as a security man of the same firm.

According to him, on 2nd January, 2018 at about 10:30pm, the complainant had information that the accused persons had loaded mango fruits onto a taxi with registration number, GT 2657-X from the farm and were heading towards Somanya with the booty.

The prosecutor said upon reaching the scene, the complainant met the accused persons with the mango valued at GHc1,000.00.

He said when they were arrested and interrogated, Abla Debrah and John Kwetey reportedly explained that the said fruits were sold to them by Somey Cyrille.

According to Chief Inspector Francis Danyo, the accused persons were subsequently arrested and detained for further investigations.

During investigation, Somey Cyrille admitted the offence and told police that he sold the mangos to Abla Debrah for GHc700.

He said he took the action to enable him pay his school fees.

Abla Debrah, in her caution statement, admitted buying the produce from Somey Cyrille but said she was unaware that the mangoes had been stolen.

After investigations, the two were charged with the offence and arraigned before court.