Two brothers jailed 10 years each
Two brothers, Hamza Salou, and Mohammed Salou who were charged for abetment of crime to wit robbery were on Monday convicted by an Accra Circuit court after it found them guilty.
Hamza and Mohammed pleaded not guilty to the charges but were convicted by the court presided over by Mr Aboagye Tandoh.
Before sentence the judge acknowledged the efforts of the police investigator in the case, saying “the investigator in this case conducted diligent work as compared to what we are mostly presented with. The investigator ensured that whatever information provided him was seriously investigated”.
He said sufficient evidence was adduced in respect of the two to warrant the decision of the court.
Mr Tandoh said the court in sentencing took into consideration the plea for mitigation by counsel for the convicts and the seven months already spent in custody by the two.
“Since the crime abetment carries a minimum sentence of 10 years, the court is of the view that, the minimum sentence is deterrent enough especially for people who have the opportunity to work but end up messing up”, he said.
Accordingly the two were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment each in high labour.
Earlier the prosecution represented by Chief Superintendent Duuti Tuaruka told the court that the complainant is a Businessman and lives at Awoshie, Accra, while Hamza is an errand boy to the complainant and lives at Kasoa, and Mohammed is a Labourer and also lives at Kasoa.
He said the complainant has a Forex Bureau at Rawlings Park Area. On May 05, at about 1500 hours, the complainant had a call from a customer that he needed cash, an amount of $100,000.00 to transact business.
He said the complainant quickly mobilized the money and informed the customer who directed him to come to First Atlantic Bank, Liberia Road, Accra.
He said the complainant delegated a witness in this case by name Kadri to go to the bank with a motorbike since there was a heavy traffic.
The prosecution said whilst this transaction was on-going, the convicts were monitoring it and gave informed one Shaibu Ibrahim now a convict and Kwesi now at large who then approached the vicinity of the bank.
The complainant left the banking hall with the dollar equivalent of GH¢390,000.00 kept in a bag.
Chief Superintendent Tuaruka said the complainant boarded the motorbike as the pillion rider and just in-front of the second gate of the bank, the witness was attacked by two men armed with pistols using unregisterd Honda 650 motor bike which they used to cross them.
They fired at the witness four times at the left thigh and he sustained injury after which they ordered him to surrender the bag and its contents but he refused.
He told the court that they snatched the bag but luck eluded them when a Police Officer engaged them in a shootout and one was hit by a pellet in the stomach. He fell down and his pistol plus one ammunition retrieved from him.
Prosecution said suspect Kwesi managed to escape with the bike leaving behind the convict who was wounded.
The money was retrieved and handed over to Security Co-ordinator of the bank for safe-keeping and later to the complainant.
The witness was sent to the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital, while the convict was later sent to the Police Hospital where they were admitted for treatment.
According to the prosecution, during investigation, it came to light that, the two convicts facilitated the robbery. Itemized calls received from MTN Ghana indicated that, the accused persons were in contact with suspect Kwesi, and from May 1, 2016 to May 17, 2016, Hamza communicated with the suspect 110 times, while Mohammed communicated with the suspect 153 times.
He said, on the day of the robbery, Hamza communicated with the suspect twenty-three times, while Mohammed communicated once. They were later arrested for investigation.
Source: GNA