120 YEARS FOR 3 ROBBERS (1B, APRIL 24, 2010)

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi

A SPECTACLE unfolded at the Sekondi High Court yesterday when three armed robbers who had shot and killed two policemen in 2009 during a robbery expedition saluted the judge and thanked him for condemning them to a total of 120 years in prison.
After the Supervising High Court judge, Mr Justice Robbin Batu, had handed down a 40-year jail term to each of the convicts, Okoley Ebenezer Tetteh, 22, Raphael Ayo Buoro, 28, and Raphael Larweh, 22, saluted him and said in unison, “Thank you, sir.”
But as they stepped out of the court to begin their sentences, they descended on the police to demand from them their mobile phones. It took a prison officer to fire a warning shot to calm their nerves.
The three robbers were arrested in October last year after a fierce gun battle with the police who foiled the robbery attempt.
According to the prosecutor, Ms Patience Klinogo, a Principal State Attorney, Tetteh, who hails from Jurabanso in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region, heard that purchasing clerks were about to cash huge sums of money to pay cocoa farmers.
He, therefore, went to Accra to recruit three others and, armed with fire power, they went to Jurabanso with the intent to rob the purchasing clerks of the money before the farmers could be paid.
But Tetteh, who had a very bad record in the area, was spotted by town folks with the others and they reported the movements of Tetteh and his accomplices to the police who went to the town to foil the robbery attempt.
However, Tetteh and his group resisted arrest and engaged the police in a gun battle, resulting in the death of two policemen.
In the process, the police shot and wounded one of the robbers but he still managed to escape. The three were later overpowered and arrested.
In another development, the Takoradi Circuit Court sentenced Collins Addai, 27, to 10 years’ imprisonment after he had been convicted for stealing an unregistered Corolla saloon car in Takoradi.
According to the prosecution, Addai approached a car dealer and offered to buy the car which was on display.
He demanded to test-drive the car before purchasing it and left a bag containing fake money with the car dealer.
After test-driving with one of the workers of the garage, Addai returned and pretended to pay for the vehicle.
Immediately the worker of the garage stepped out of the vehicle, Addai sped off and refused to stop at any of the police barriers he came across.
He was given a hot chase by the police.
Unfortunately for Addai, there was traffic at the toll gate, for which reason he stepped out of the vehicle and took to his heels.
He was later arrested and when the bag was opened, it contained bundles of paper cut in the size and shape of bank notes. Two GH¢20 notes had been placed on both ends of each bundle.