2 Sacked Cops, Plumber Jailed 35 Yrs For Robbery

• The accused persons: Eric Anto (2nd left), Anthony Nti-Peprah (hand raised) and Augustine Dagadu-Djampo (right), being led by a prison officer to begin their jail sentences. In the middle is another convict.

Three persons, including two ex-policemen, have been sentenced to a total of 105 years’ imprisonment by the Koforidua High Court for robbery.

The convicts, Augustine Nti-Peprah and Eric Anto, the ex-policemen, and Anthony Dagadu-Djampo, a plumber, will spend 35 years each behind bars.
They pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiracy and robbery, but the court, presided over by Mr Justice G.B. Suurebareh, found them liable after a full trial.
Two others who were also involved in the robbery,  D-Black and Paapee, are on the run.

Facts of case

According to the facts of the case as presented to the court by a Senior State Attorney, Mr Frederick Tetteh, the complainant in the case, who is a businessman resident in Koforidua, was on April 11, 2013 returning from Kumasi to Koforidua in his unregistered Nissan FX Infinity vehicle.
The complainant, who was in the company of a witness, drove through the NIB-Ministries stretch of the road, and on reaching a section of the road near the Adult Education area, a Golf saloon car coming from behind signaled the complainant to stop.
According to the prosecution, the complainant obliged and Nti-Peprah and Anto, who were dressed in police uniforms, pulled out of the car and requested the driving licence of the complainant after which they asked him why he was driving an unregistered vehicle at that hour of the night.
Mr Tetteh said Dagadu-Djampo and the two others, now at large, approached the scene and joined Nti-Peprah and Anto to arrest the complainant.
They bundled him into the rear seat of his vehicle, with Nti-Peprah taking over the steering wheel, ostensibly to send the complainant to the Eastern Regional Office of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Ghana Police Service.

Robbery

However, on reaching the Eastern Regional Police Headquarters Junction at Galloway, a suburb of Koforidua, they sped off and took to the Koforidua-Mamfe road.
Nti Peprah and Anto, who were armed with pump action guns, subjected the complainant to severe beatings and managed to pass through two police checkpoints at Mile 50 and Tinkong because they were in police uniforms.
On reaching a spot near Kwamoso, Nti-Peprah stopped and pulled the complainant and the witness out of the car.
Within a few minutes, a Volvo saloon vehicle with some occupants, including Dagadu-Djampo, also armed with pump action guns, appeared on the scene and joined their colleagues to beat the complainant again.
According to the prosecution, the accused persons robbed the complainant of his vehicle, a Galaxy S3 mobile phone, a Dell laptop, cheque books, GH¢5,000 in GH¢50 denominations, among other items, after which they bolted.

Revelation

At about 3 a.m. the following day, April 12, 2013, the police had information that Nti-Peprah was trying to cannibalize the said vehicle at Gomoa Buduburam and he was subsequently arrested and the vehicle retrieved.
A search on him on the spot revealed GH¢1,700 in GH¢50 denominations believed to be part of his share of the money taken from the complainant, photocopies of the documents of the FX 35 Infinity and the log book of the vehicle.
The prosecution said during interrogation, Nti-Peprah mentioned Dagadu-Djampo and Anto as his accomplices and they were later arrested.
A search on Anto revealed a police uniform, a police name tag bearing the name Nti-Peprah, two AK 47 ammunitions, one UT Bank cheque booklet bearing the name of the complainant and a Promado wrist watch also belonging to the complainant.
A further search on Nti-Peprah led to the recovery of one live G3 ammunition, a string believed to be used to support the pump action guns and a police sergeant cap, police ID card bearing his name, another ID card of the Republic of Gambia with his picture but with the name Charles O. Sarpong.
The police subsequently retrieved the said Volvo saloon car, with registration number GT 4161 – V, which was used on the day of the robbery.
After the arrest of the accused persons, the complainant identified them as those who had robbed him of his vehicle and documents at gunpoint.

Judgement

Passing judgement, Mr Justice Suurebareh complained of the increase in such activities in the country and said since the prosecution had proved its case beyond doubt, the accused persons must  be punished to serve as a deterrent to others.
He advised the Ghana Police Service to do thorough background checks on recruits before they were finally absorbed into the service.

Commendation

He praised the investigator in the case, Detective Lance Corporal Stephen Teye Martey, for doing a thorough professional job during the investigations.