Two bonded to be of good behaviour for abetment

An Accra Circuit Court has bonded two drivers to be of good behaviour for two years each for abetment of crime.

Wisdom Ofoe and Francis Okronipa Kabutey, would serve nine months imprisonment each in default.

They pleaded not guilty but were found liable for abetment of crime and were convicted but remanded into prison custody to be sentenced later.

Kwabena Nkansah and Emmanuel Akwetey, both traders, their accomplices were earlier sentenced to three years imprisonment each for dishonestly receiving 10,042 bags of cement valued at GH?281,696.00 belonging to a business man.

Nkansah and Akwetey had pleaded not guilty to the offence but were found culpable after trial.

Their accomplices; Richard Oboh Atta and Francis Baidoo who had also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and stealing the bags of cement were given five years each after confessing that they sold the cement to Nkansah and Akwetey.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Man-Anit Sampana told the Court presided over by Mr Emmanuel Essandoh that Mr Joseph Atta, the complainant in the case deals in cement and has his wholesale at Kotobabi near Baatsona in Accra.

He said Attah and Baidoo were the complainant’s store keepers whilst Ofoe and Kabutey were drivers in charge of KIA trucks stationed at the complainant’s shop.

The Prosecution said Nkansah and Akwetey are also traders in cement, having their retail shops at Buade and Teshie Rasta, respectively, both suburbs in Accra.

DSP Sampana said from January 2017, the complainant detected a shortage in the bags of cement in stock through his own stock taking and internal auditing.

He said the complainant confronted Attah and Baidoo, but they denied knowledge of it, however, the complainant had information from a reliable source that the two had been stealing bags of cement from the store and with the assistance of Ofoe and Kabutey, sold to Nkansah and Akwetey at a lower price than that of the market price.

The prosecution said on June 27, 2017 the complainant found an amount of GH?2,240.00 from Ofoe which was the price of 80 bags of cement stolen by Attah and Baidoo from the store and sold to Akwetey.

DSP Sampana said the complainant caused the arrest of Attah, Baidoo and Ofoe, who mentioned Kabutey, Nkansah and Akwetey as their accomplices.

He said Attah and Baidoo admitted selling over 80 bags of cement weekly to Nkansah and Akwetey.

He said during investigations, an amount of GH?17,000.00 was retrieved from Attah and Baidoo.

The court heard that an audit report from January 1, 2016 to July 27, 2017, revealed that a total of 10,042 bags of cement valued GH?281,696.00 had been stolen by the store keepers; Attah and Baidoo with the assistance of the drivers; Ofoe and Kabutey who transported them to the traders; Nkansah and Akwetey.

The court in passing sentences acknowledged the efforts put in by the various counsels which had earned the convicts lenient sentences.