Unemployed gets 25 years for robbery

An Accra Circuit Court on Monday sentenced Bernard Kofi Owusu Acheampong, unemployed, to 25 years imprisonment for robbing one Gerhard Ofori Amankwah.

Acheampong robbed Amankwah of one HP Laptop worth GH¢ 1,600, an Apple ipad worth GH¢ 2,700.00, Samsung tablet worth GH¢ 1,500.00, and one iphone 6 worth GH¢ 2,900.00.

Others are a Samsung S4 mobile phone worth GH¢ 600.00, HTC mobile phone worth GH¢ 1,500.00, HTC M8 mobile phone worth GH¢ 1,800.00 and an amount of GH¢ 1,000.00.

The facts of the case as presented by Police Inspector Grace Bandor are that the complainant is a medical doctor and resides at Dansoman while the convict is unemployed and lived at Bubuashie.

She said on February 19, at about 0100 hours, the convict, who was armed with a knife, scaled the back wall of the complainant’s house and entered the compound, picked a rag and used it to half mask his face.

She said the convict then climbed an extension roof to reach the complainants toilet window, used the knife to cut the net of the window, removed two of the louver blades and entered into the toilet.

The prosecution said Achempong went downstairs and removed one flat screen television set and left it in the sofa. He climbed up and met a relative of the doctor, who had come out of the bedroom to urinate.

She told the court that Acheampong pulled the knife on the victim and escorted her to the bedroom where the complainant was sleeping.

Police Inspector Bandor said the complainant woke from sleep and the convict pointed the knife at them, threatening that they should bring out their laptops and mobile phones.

The complainant surrendered his one HP Laptop, Apple ipad, Samsung tablet, iphone 6, Samsung s4 mobile phone, HTC mobile phone, HTC M8 mobile phone and an amount of GH¢ 1,000.00.

She told the court that the convict picked a pillow case, loaded his booty into it and gave same to the complainant’s relative, locked the complainant in the bedroom and escorted the victim to the hall.

She said at the hall, the convict ordered her to lie on the floor pointing a knife at her, had sex with her and after the act instructed her to move upstairs and wait.

The prosecution said the convict left the knife and the rag he used in half masking his face, picked the pillow case containing the items, but left the television set behind and escaped through the main entrance after he had collected all the keys.

She said the complainant and his relative later called the Dansoman Police Station and reported the matter. Fortunately one of the phones robbed from the complainant had a tracking device software installed on it.

She told the court that with the help of this device and the assistant of the complainant, the police was able to trace the convict to his hideout at Adakope in Dansoman and arrested him, with the pillow case and the exhibits.

She said he was escorted to the police station and during interrogation, he confessed to the crime and other robberies he had committed in Dansoman in the presence of an independent witness.