Five jailed for stealing rubber stumps
Arku Jasmine
2 minutes read
The convicts, Douglas Andoh, a 23-year-old taxi driver, Samuel Andzie 29, Yaw Appiah, 26, and Kwesi Armah, 27, are all illegal miners. Each of them was slapped with a five year jail term but Abudu Moro, a 29 year-old ex-convict, was sentenced to 10 years.
They were convicted on their own plea.
Prosecuting Detective Chief Inspector Oscar Amponsah told the court presided over by Mr. Samuel Obeng Diawuo that the complainant is the Field’s Manager of GREL in charge of the Awudua plantation and the convicts are residents at Abura Gyabengkrom near Agona Nkwanta in the Western region.
He said on July 16, 2012, at about 2200 hours the watch-dog committee members of Awudua in the Prestea Huni/Valley District spotted during their patrols the offenders in the dark carrying fertilizer sacks.
Inspector Amponsah said the committee members decided to trail the five as they suspected them to be criminals.
According to the Prosecutor, when the convicts realized that, they were been trailed by the committee members, they threw the sacks into the bush by the road side where they had packed a Kia Pride taxi.
The Prosecutor said the committee members blocked the road and in the process arrested Andoh and Moro but the other three managed to escape into the bush.
He said when the committee members conducted a search in the bush they discovered six fertilizer sacks containing rubber stumps.
Inspector Amponsah said the committee members then alerted their colleagues at Gordon village to be on the lookout for the three and at about 0100 hours, Andzie, Appiah and Armah were arrested at Gordon.
The Prosecutor said on July 17 the convicts were handed over to the police together with the stolen items.
He said when the police visited the GREL bud wood garden at the outskirt of Awudua, they found out that the offenders went and stole the rubber stumps from the bud wood garden.
Inspector Amponsah said after investigation they were charged with the offence.
Source: GNA/Ghana
