Three persons were yesterday sentenced to a total of 60 years by an Accra Circuit Court for robbing an Egyptian Diplomat.
They are Mamoud Amadu, 24, Jalilu Masawudu, 24 and Ibrahim Musah, 21.
The three, according to the prosecutor, DSP Ernest Acheampong, on January 26, 2013 at the P.L Forex Bureau at Dzorwulu in Accra, conspired and robbed one Mustapha Faud Hassan, an Egyptian Diplomat, of his $1,000.
The three, allegedly armed with a pistol and in the company of one Atukwei, now dead, also unlawfully and intentionally harmed Hassan.
Although the accused persons variously denied the offence at the initial stages of the trial, Justice Francis Obiri however found them guilty and convicted them.
Possible Diplomatic Row
Delivering the sentence, the high court judge sitting with additional responsibility as a circuit court judge said Hassan nearly died as a result of the attack, adding that if the complainant had died, it could have caused a diplomatic row between Ghana and Egypt.
He accordingly jailed each of the three accused persons 15 years for conspiracy, 20 years for robbery and five years for causing harm, all to run concurrently.
However, Justice Obiri acquitted and discharged the convicts on the second charge of robbing one Alhaji Adam Ahmed because the complainant was not in court to testify in the trial.
Facts of the Case
Earlier, DSP Acheampong had prayed the court to mete out a harsher punishment to the accused persons to serve as a deterrent to others.
The prosecutor said Alhaji Adam Ahmed was the complainant and the managing director of a forex bureau while the accused persons were residents of Kasoa.
He said on the said day at about 0830 hours the accused persons, armed with pistols, entered the complainant’s forex bureau
and amid threats of death, subjected the four workers on duty to severe beatings and robbed the bureau of £ 3,000, $108,000 and $29,000 at gun point.
He said in the course of the robbery, Hassan entered the bureau and they ordered him to handover all the money on him but he resisted.
The police officer said this infuriated the accused persons and they shot him in the leg and arms. They then robbed him of $ 1,000 and bolted.
The prosecution said on February 5, 2013 Mamoud and Jalilu were arrested at Achimota in connection with another robbery, and that their victims at the bureau later identified them.
DSP Acheampong said when the police conducted a search in the room of Mamoud at Achimota, GH¢ 24,070, 660 Euros, £ 1,110, 20 Canadian dollars, US$ 7,485, two foreign made pistols, one pump action gun, two locally made pistols and quantities of live ammunition, one big metal cutter and one 24 inch plasma TV were found.
He said Mamoud admitted the offence and mentioned Jalilu, Ibrahim and Atukwei, who recently died in a shootout with police at Akim Oda, as his accomplices.
The prosecution told the court that on July 26, 2014 the police arrested Ibrahim at Kasoa in another robbery attack.
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