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A 27-year-old welder, Emmanuel Hammond, has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in hard labour for stealing 30 bags of cement valued 600 Ghana cedis. He pleaded guilty. Prosecuting, Detective Chief Inspector Oscar Amponsah told the court presided over by Mr. Samuel Obeng Diawuo that the complainant, Beatrice Arhin, was a store keeper at Tarkwa. He said on September 29 Hammond approached the Beatrice in her shop and requested to buy 50 bags of cement. Some few minutes later he returned to the shop with a Kia truck and told the Beatrice that he could afford 30 bags as he had less space in the truck to keep the 50 bags. The Prosecutor said the cement was loaded into the truck and told the driver to wait for him somewhere with the cement while he paid the complainant. The convict pretended he was receiving a phone call, walked away from the shop and disappeared. Beatrice later met the driver at Tarkwa- Bankyim SGS junction and he led her to Tarkwa- Zongo where the convict made him to discharge the cement. The two went to Tarkwa-Zongo and were told as soon as the driver left, the convict loaded the cement on another vehicle. He was later arrested and admitted the offense in his cautioned statement. The judge said Hammond was convicted last year for stealing and was sentenced to two years but appealed at the Sekondi High Court and was ordered to refund the money. Mr. Diawuo said to deter the youth form such behavior, he decided to invoke section 300 of Act 30 and gave a longer sentenced.