Trader jailed 20 years for robbing IMF staff

An Accra Circuit Court has sentenced a 29-year-old trader to 20 years’ imprisonment for robbing and causing harm to a resident staff with the Regional Office of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Accra.

Mohammed Buzu was found guilty on two counts of causing harm to, and robbing Dr Oral William after a full trial at the court, presided over by Ms Rosemond Baah Tosu.

He was said to have inflicted a machete wound on Dr William’s left hand when he (Dr William) blocked an intended attack by Buzu on his wife, Mrs Claudia Allen William.

Buzu was sentenced to five years on the first count and 15 years on the second. The two sentences will run consecutively.

Facts

The facts, as narrated by the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Martin Adu Acheampong, were that about 3 a.m. on January 18, this year, Dr William heard some noise in the bathroom of the couple’s Cantonments residence in Accra and decided to check, only to find Buzu, armed with a machete, a cutter and a pair of pliers, there.

The prosecutor said Buzu ordered Dr William to surrender all of his money to him, but Dr William told him that he had no money on him.

He said Mrs William came out to find out who her husband was engaged in exchange of words with and Buzu ordered her to lie down on seeing her.

The prosecutor said Buzu again demanded that the two show him where they kept their money, but they insisted that they had no money in the house.

He said Buzu then raised his machete to inflict a wound on Mrs Williams but her husband blocked it with his left hand, leaving him with a deep cut.

Robbery

The prosecutor said Buzu then robbed them of an iPhone X, valued at $1,000; a Samsung J7, valued at $220; a Blu Vivo 5 smartphone, valued at $165; a leather bag, valued at $400; one wallet, costing $100; one sunglass, valued $300, GH¢200, among others.

The prosecutor said Dr Williams was rushed to the 37 Military Hospital and later flown to South Africa for further treatment.

He said on the day of the robbery, a complaint was lodged at the Cantonments Police Station, from where it was transferred to the Greater Accra Regional Criminal Investigations Department.

The prosecution said during investigations, the police tracked the victim’s iPhone X to Pokuase, where a witness in the matter was arrested and the phone retrieved, which led to the arrest of Buzu.