The Accra Circuit Court Ten has sentenced a fisherman to six years imprisonment in hard labour for stealing £5,000, $100, GHC4,000.00, mobile phones and personal effects belonging to a couple.
Emmanuel Tetteh, who claimed he found the money and items at the seashore, confessed to using the money and the proceeds from the sale of the items to buy fishing gear.
He denied entering the couple’s home unlawfully to steal.
The Court ordered monies retrieved from Tetteh to be given to the complainants to offset their loss.
Tetteh is to also refund the money he used in buying fishing gear.
In passing sentence, the judge considered the fact Tetteh did not cooperate during his arrest and trial, showed no remorse for the crime, and attempted to stab District Police Officer during his arrest.
Police Chief Inspector Benson Benneh told the court that the complainants, Mr, and Mrs Osei were residents of the United Kingdom whilst Tetteh, 23, alias Commetey, 666 and Escobar was a fisherman at Chorkor.
In September 2021, the complainants came to Ghana to attend a funeral and lodged in a family house at Camara, a suburb of Mamprobi in Accra
He said on October 16, 2021, at about 0400 hours they detected that their room had been burgled and an amount of £5,000, GHC4,000.00, a wristwatch valued at €250.00, a Samsung Galaxy S6 mobile phone valued at €200.00, and a Samsung note 8 mobile phone valued at GHC6400.00 were missing.
Additionally, $100, 70 German Deutsche Marks and quantities of T-shirts were also stolen from the complainants.
Chief Inspector Benneh said the Samsung Galaxy S6 mobile phone had an application for tracking the device.
He said a team of police officers from Mamprobi led by the District Commander tracked the missing mobile phone to Tetteh’s place of abode at Chorkor.
Tetteh, who was then in his room, was ordered to come out but he refused to open the door.
The prosecution said after several efforts to persuade him to come out from the room, Tetteh, armed with a dagger, rushed out from his boarding, attempted to stab the District Commander, and escaped.
When his room was searched, the team found a cash amount of €2,790.00, GHC4,000.00, three Samsung mobile phones, one LG mobile phone, a techno mobile phone, an Infinix mobile phone, an Itel mobile phone, a faulty wristwatch, five necklaces, nine perfumes, eight kitchen knives, three cutlasses, a hammer, and screwdrivers.
The team also found four flash drives, five memory cards, a modem, a computer mouse, an auxiliary cable, a talisman, a plier, a Nasco flatscreen television set and fourteen backpacks.
The prosecution said on November 3, 2021, the Mamprobi Police Command had a hint that Tetteh had used proceeds from his stealing expedition to procure fishing nets and an outboard motor.
Subsequently, the items were retrieved from his uncle, and he was arrested.
The prosecution said fishing nets and ropes valued at GHC60,000.00, as well as a Yamaha outboard motor valued at GHC19,000.00, were also retrieved from his room.
Tetteh’s uncle in his cautioned statement informed the Police that the retrieved items belonged to the convict.
He said he led Tetteh to a shop in James Town in October 2021 to purchase the items even though he the accused did not have a source of income at the time.
The prosecution said on April 19, 2022, Tetteh was arrested at the Accra Regional Police Headquarters where he petitioned the Command that he was being harassed by the complainants.
After investigations, he was charged with the offences and put before the court.
Source: GNA