Two young men were yesterday sentenced to a total of 50 years imprisonment by an Accra Circuit Court for robbery.
The court, presided over by Francis Obiri, found the accused persons � Mumuni Bole and Mohammed Kadiri � guilty of the offence of conspiracy and robbery.
The two are said to have robbed one Madam Gloria Yin of GH�3,500, a pair of jeans valued at GH�50 and two Nokia mobile phones valued at GH�150, on June 7, 2011 at the Kokomba Market in Accra.
Delivering the sentence, the trial judge said the prosecution had been able to establish a case against the accused persons.
He said robbery is on the increase in the country and noted that it is a phenomenon which could scare away investors.
Mr. Obiri stated that through robbery, a lot of people had lost their relatives while others had also been maimed.
According to him, not a day passes without news of a robbery attack on the citizenry � a reason why he said the two criminals must be taken away from the society.
Mr. Obiri accordingly handed each of them 15 years for the charge of conspiracy and 25 years for robbery; all to run concurrently.
Prosecuting, Esi Dentaa Yankah, Assistant State Attorney, had told the court at the initial stages of the trial that the complainant was at her shop at the Konkomba Market when the accused persons came to her and demanded at knife point that she should surrender
all her valuables.
According to the prosecutor, the accused persons took the aforementioned items and money from her but the complainant was bold enough to raise an alarm, compelling the accused persons to take to their heels.
Ms Dentaa Yankah further stated that passers-by attracted by the complainant�s shouts chased the fleeing men but were only able to apprehend Bole who in turn led them to Kadiri. The latter claimed he had hidden the paint bucket containing the money in a gutter, according to the prosecutor.
She averred that Kadiri led the passers-by to the said gutter but the money was not found. He later said he could not remember where the bucket was.
After investigations had been concluded, the two were subsequently charged with the offence when they were arraigned before the court for prosecution.
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