A 19-year-old second-year student of the Nyinahin Catholic Senior High School (SHS) has been handed a 10-year jail term after pleading guilty to threat of death.
The convict, Ofori Atta, who will serve the sentence with labour, threatened to kill the Nkawie District Manager of Federated Commodities Limited, a licensed cocoa buying company, Mr Emmanuel Brenyah.
Atta had earlier broken into the complainant’s office, made away with a mobile phone belonging to one of Mr Brenyah’s clerks and other items and later retrieved Mr Brenyah’s contact.
In a conversation with Mr Brenyah by phone after the break-in, Atta told him that he (Atta) had been contracted by some people to kill Brenyah and demanded GH¢20,000 from Brenyah if he did not want to be killed.
Atta had pleaded guilty to all the four charges — unlawful entry, causing damage, stealing and threat of death — and was convicted on his own plea by the Nkawie Circuit Court, presided over by Mr Johnson Michael Abbey.
He was sentenced to 10 years on each count, to run concurrently.
Plea for mercy
Atta had earlier pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, with the explanation that he had lost both parents and had been compelled to commit the offence to raise money to pay his fees.
However, the court did not take kindly to his plea, pointing out that some youth took delight in attacking the ‘haves’ in society, using the prevailing economic hardship as an excuse.
According to the presiding judge, the sentence was to serve as a deterrent to other youth who had the intention of engaging in such acts.
Facts
Briefing the court, the prosecutor, Inspector Ekow Hanson, said on February 22, this year, the complainant returned from a trip to Kumasi and realised that his office had been broken into, with one computer and a mobile phone belonging to one of his clerks stolen.
He said after breaking into the office, Atta managed to retrieve Brenyah’s phone number and called him (Brenyah) to inform him that he had been sent to kill him.
Inspector Hanson said the convict also told the complainant that he (Atta) would not carry out the order if Brenyah could part with GH¢20,000 and deposit it at the Nkawie public cemetery.
He said Mr Brenyah informed the police about the threat and demand and together they plotted how to arrest the convict.
According to him, on February 27, 2016, Atta again called the complainant and asked him to send the money to the agreed venue, which he obliged.
However, he said, the complainant had earlier sought the assistance of some volunteers in the area who laid ambush at the cemetery.
The prosecutor said when the convict went to pick the money and was leaving the scene, the volunteers apprehended him and handed him over to the police.
He said a search conducted on Atta revealed the SIM card he had been using to call the complainant.
A further search in his room also revealed the mobile phone he had stolen from the office, a hammer, as well as other metallic implements suspected to have been used to break into the office.
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