Caretaker caged 10 years for aiding robbery on tenant

A caretaker of a house has been jailed 10 years by the Accra Circuit Court for aiding armed robbers to attack a tenant and rob her of $14,000 and other belongings at Oyarifa near Accra.

Kofi Adonten Boateng pleaded not guilty to abetment of robbery, but the court was of the view that the evidence on record proved that he had given a duplicate key to the tenant’s apartment to the robbers.

The robbers are, however, on the run.

Also the court established that the duplicate key was discovered in Boateng’s room after the robbery, even though the landlord had earlier ordered him to surrender all the keys to the tenant when she rented the apartment.

Delivering judgement last Monday. the presiding judge, Mr Aboagye Tandoh, said there was also evidence to show that the robbers had entered the apartment without breaking any door.

“I find it as a fact that the accused (Boateng) had foreknowledge of the robbery operation,” the presiding judge said.

Hand bag

Apart from providing the robbers with the duplicate key, the court further held that Boateng had told the robbers the exact place where they would find the tenant’s valuable items.

The prosecution, during the trial, informed the court that when the tenant moved into the house, Boateng offered to convey her personal belongings, including her handbag, to the apartment, but she declined to give the handbag to him.

In the judgement, the court established that the evidence on record showed that the first thing the robbers demanded when they entered the apartment was the tenant’s handbag and they bolted when they laid hands on it.

Caretaker’s betrayal

On June 30, 2017, the tenant, who used to reside in the United States of America (USA), came to Ghana and rented the apartment, which is on the first floor of a storey building.

Boateng was told by the landlord to hand over all the keys to the apartment to the tenant.

According to the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Kwabena Adu, Boateng did not hand over all the keys and, about 2 a.m. on July 2, 2017, he used the key to open the main door of the tenant’s apartment for the robbers to attack her.

The robbers, armed with a metal cutter and other tools, the prosecutor said, covered the tenant’s mouth and demanded her handbag, which contained $14,000.

“The robbers spotted the said handbag, took it, together with some jewellery, and escaped through the main door which was already opened,’’ he said.

Chief Inspector Adu said the tenant followed the robbers with loud screams and saw Boateng standing in the compound of the house.

She asked Boateng to help apprehend the robbers but he refused, with the explanation that he was not armed.

Writer’s email: emma.hawkson@graphic.com.gh