3 Robbers Jailed 90 Years

The Accra Circuit Court yesterday sentenced three persons to a total jail term of 90 years with hard labour for engaging in two separate robberies. That was after the court, presided over by Mr Francis Obiri, had found them guilty of conspiracy to rob and robbery. The convicts are Mutarr Sajarr, Danso Dominic and Zakaria Usman. They had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges, but the court found them guilty after a full trial. Facts of the case Prosecuting, Deputy Superintendent of Police Mr J. K. Anim said about 3.30 p.m. on July 27, 2012, the complainants attended an old students association meeting along the Hansonic Junction at Dansoman. He said Sajarr, a trader aged 24, and a second person, Abdul Yussif, 25, a painter, both resident at Awoshie, stormed the venue of the meeting on an unregistered Honda motorbike wearing helmets and threatened to shoot anyone who failed to surrender his or her belongings. They robbed the people at the meeting of their belongings, including a Kodak digital camera valued at GH�500, a ladies� handbag containing GH�100, an automated teller machine (ATM) card, as well as a make-up bag and other items. Using a similar mode of operation, the convicts had earlier robbed one Victor Nda of his Acer laptop and a Blackberry mobile phone. In their attempt to escape after the robbery at Dansoman, they were hit by an oncoming vehicle. As a result, they fell on the ground and sustained various degrees of injury, rendering them incapable of escaping. They were arrested and taken to the Police Hospital for treatment. On July 28, 2012, Yussif�s health deteriorated and he died at the Police Hospital. The police later retrieved the handbag with some of its contents, the unregistered Honda motorbike, as well as the gun the convicts had used in carrying out the robberies. In the second robbery, Mr Anim told the court that Danso and Usman, alias Zak, had, on August 22, 2011,attacked the complainants, Michael Kumi and Godfred Billa, together with their parents, while they were asleep and subjected them to beatings. The prosecution said the convicts tied the hands of the complainants and robbed them of their mobile phones at gunpoint. In the process, the father of one of the complainants alerted the Amasaman Police patrol team, who proceeded to the scene immediately. The robbers, on noticing the presence of the police, bolted, leaving a schoolbag and an industrial cutter behind. The police took custody of the bag which contained two pliers, a cable wire and a pair of scissors. Other items in the bag were a spanner, a screw driver/tester, a bunch of keys, a pair of shoes, a T-shirt, a pair of trousers, a mobile phone and a pair of beach sandals. On August 29, 2011, the Accra Regional Police Command arrested Danso and he mentioned the name of his accomplice only as Zak. On September 9, 2011, Usman was also arrested upon a tip-off.