Drivers mate gets 20 years for robbery

An Accra Circuit Court on Monday sentenced one Yaw Satira, a driver’s mate to 20 years imprisonment in hard labour.

Yaw was put before the Court for attempting to commit crime and robbery and pleaded guilty to both charges and was convicted on his own plea.

The convict, who robbed a Nigerian national of her Blackberry mobile phone on September 1, 2014, is to serve 10 years for attempting to commit crime and 20 years for robbery.

The facts of the case as presented by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ernest Acheampong are that the complainants are Nigerian nationals currently residing at Osu, a suburb of Accra.

He said on September 1, at about 2200 hours, the complainants were heading towards the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) from Circle along the ring road, when the convict, who was in a Circle-Madina-bound trotro saw them walking along the road towards GBC and alighted from the bus and robbed them.

DSP Acheampong told the court that Yaw attacked one of them with a knife by pointing it at her and threatened to stab her if she failed to surrender all properties on her.

The prosecution said the complainant became frightened and surrendered her Blackberry Curve mobile phone, a Nokia touch-screen phone, a wallet containing a school identification card, GHC 20.00, a complementary card and a make-up kit.

DSP Acheampong said after robbing the first complainant, the convict pursued and tried to attack another person, but she raised an alarm which attracted a taxi driver to the scene.

He told the court that, the taxi driver picked them in his cab, pursued Yaw and eventually caught up with him at a distance and arrested him (Yaw), but he had discarded the items he took from them along the line.

DSP Acheampong said the Nima Divisional Police patrol team which got wind of the incident rushed to the scene and arrested him.

Yaw admitted the offence in his caution statement at the police station and pleaded for leniency.