Trader Jailed 35 Years For Robbery

A Circuit Court in Accra on Tuesday sentenced Nana Agyemang Opoku, a trader to 35 years imprisonment in hard labour on the charges of conspiracy and robbery. Opoku is said to have conspired with Frank Sarpong, now deceased, to rob an Information Technology Technician and his family at gun point and made away with assorted items and cash in the sum of $2,100.00 and GH₡4,500.00 at Amasaman. Sarpong is said to have passed away at the Amasaman Government Hospital after a mob attack. The sentence was handed down on Opoku after he had pleaded guilty to the charges before the court, presided over by Mr Francis Obiri. Prosecuting Chief Superintendent of Police Duuti Tuaruka, said the complainant, Mr Joseph Annor is an IT technician, who lives with the family at Sapieman near Amasaman in Accra. According to the prosecutor, Opoku and his accomplice, Sarpong, had been terrorising residents of Amasaman. On September 10, this year, at about 02:00 hours, Opoku and Sarpong armed themselves with two foreign pistols and other offensive weapons and went to the house of the complainant at Sapieman to rob him. Chief Superintendent said on that day, the complainant heard his dog barking but he failed to come out. Opoku and Sarpong waited until 0600 hours in the morning when the complainant and his family came out from their rooms. Opoku and Sarpong pointed their pistols on the complainant and marched him into his room, where they tied his hand at his back and subjected the complainant�s family to severe beatings. Chief Supt. Tuaruka said Opoku and Sarpong robbed the complainant of three laptops, an apple Ipad, five mobile phones, two wedding rings, and assorted jewelries and cash in the sum of $2,100.00 and GH₡4,500.00. According to the prosecutor, while the complainant was on his way to the Amasaman Police Station to lodge a complaint, he spotted Opoku and Sarpong walking along the street of Sapieman and he raised an alarm. The prosecutor said Opoku and Sarpong took to their heels amidst firing into the air but the complainant together with some residents arrested them with the booty and handed them over to the Police. Prosecution said Opoku and Sarpong sustained injuries during their arrest by the mob but Sarpong died later at the Amasaman Government Hospital. The Police also retrieved three laptops, an ipad, five mobile phones, two weeding rings and assorted jewelries and cash in the sum of $2,100.00 and GH₡1,034.00.