The Accra Circuit Court last Monday sentenced four persons to 60 years imprisonment with hard labour for engaging in separate robberies.
Godwin Sampana and Kelvin Avio pleaded guilty to the charges of causing unlawful damage, conspiracy to commit crime and robbery.
The two snatched a mobile phone valued at GH�1,800 from an immigration officer.
The court, presided over by Mr Francis Obiri, sentenced Sampana and Avio to serve 20 years each in jail.
The other two, Nii Ayitey Sherif and Ayuba Sarkodie, who were both land guards, also pleaded guilty to the charges of conspiracy to commit a crime and threat of death.
Sherif and Sarkodie were also said to have robbed a victim of a laptop on December 28, 2012 at about 7 a.m. at Gbawe in Accra.
They were also sentenced to 10 years on each count and the sentence is to run concurrently.
Appeal for leniency
Prior to the sentence, the lawyer for the four, Mr George Asomani, told the court that the convicts were young and a long sentence in prison could rather harden them.
He, therefore, prayed the court to show leniency and �spare them from long custodial sentence to enable them to start their lives afresh.�
Fact of the case
Prosecuting, DSP Patrick A. Morkeh told the court that the complainant was an immigration officer.
He said on May 23, 2014, the complainant was walking towards the passport office at Ridge when Sampana and Avio rode their motorbike closely to her.
DSP Morkeh said Sampana violently snatched the phone and when they attempted to speed off, the complainant held them and pushed them down.
The prosecution said that led to the arrest.
In the case of Ayitey Sherif and Sarkodie, the prosecutor, Chief Superintendent Mr Duuti Tuarekeh, told the court that the complainant was a footballer while the two were land guards at Gbawe and Gomtse in Accra.
He said Sherif and Sarkodie had persistently been harassing residents of the two areas.
The prosecutor said on December 28, 2012, at about 7 a.m., the complainant (with his laptop) was in the company of his friends when the convicts, together with a colleague who is currently on the run, emerged from the bush with machetes, chisels and hacksaw blades.
They ordered the complainant and his friends to surrender all their items and threatened to kill if they refused, the prosecutor stated.
The prosecution said Sherif and Sarkodie took away the complainant�s laptop and GH�5.
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