Six armed robbers, were on Monday, jailed a total of 120 years by a Sekondi high court, presided by Mr. Justice Peter Kwabena Ababio, for robbery on the Sefwi Boako highway in the Sefwi Wiawso District of the Western Region, in November, 2011.
The convicts – Kwabena Nyarko, Ibrahim, Adams, also known as Kokomba, Mohammed Salo, Emmanuel Kwame Nti, Emmanuel Amponsah and Mutala Issah Kabiru, were each convicted 20 years on one count of conspiracy and seven counts on robbery.
Earlier, the prosecution charged them with 12 counts of robbery but, due to the absence of some key witnesses, the court quashed four charges.
They pleaded not guilty to the charges but the court found them guilty and sentenced them accordingly. The sentences are to run concurrently.
Justice Ababio ordered that the taxi cab mentioned in the robbery should be returned to the true owner as he did not authorise the use of the vehicle for the crime.
He said, although, the convicts were first time offenders, he sentenced them to serve as a deterrent to other criminals, adding that he was satisfied with the evidence of the prosecution.
Justice Ababio said that the witnesses the six convicts relied on denied their alibis they submitted, and, therefore, rejected their defence.
Prosecuting, the Chief State Attorney, Madam Patience Klionogo, recalled that, at about 4.30am on November 15, 2011,eight persons armed with locally-manufactured guns and cutlasses, blocked the Sefwi Boako-Fawoman highway with logs and attacked traders traveling from Sefwi Asawinso to Kumasi.
She told the court that the convicts robbed the traders of several thousands of cedi, mobile phones, watches and other valuables and escaped from the area.
Madam Klinogo added that when the police got to the crime scene, the criminals had fled, stating that, after an inspection, four big logs used in blocking the road, glasses and empty cartridges, were found.
“After the robbery, the robbers hid their weapons and booty in the bush and checked into a hotel at Sefwi Boako, but, upon a tip- off, Nyarko, Adams, Salo, Nti,and Amponsah were arrested on board a taxi leading towards the Bank of Ghana office on the same day,” the prosecutor recalled.
On November 16, 2011, she said, victims identified the convicts at the Sefwi Wiawso Police Station, adding that Kabiru was also arrested at his hideout at Enchi, in the Aowin district.
After investigations they were charged and arraigned in court, Madam Klinogo said.
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