Court sentences armed robber to 40 years

A member of a robbery gang that attacked a house at Fumesua-Amanfrom in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality, where they shot and injured a nursing mother and her six-month old baby, has been sentenced to 40 years imprisonment by a Kumasi Circuit Court.

Ali Baba together with two others now on the run, Sulley and Awudu, robbed the household amidst firing of gunshots from locally manufactured pistols on July 29.

Pellets from their shots are still lodged in the breast of the victims mother while that of the baby had been removed from the chest by doctors.

Baba faced charges of conspiracy and robbery and pleaded not guilty.

A State Attorney, Mr Emmanuel Lawrence Kwadwo Otoo-Boison, told the Court presided over by Justice D.W.P Amedior that, the convict and his accomplices used concrete blocks to break into the house at about at about 0130 hours.

They seized cellular phones, a digital camera, modem and cash totaling GH¢3,715.00 from their victims.

He said one of the victims managed to reach a neighbour on phone who alerted the Neighbourhood Watch Committee, who responded swiftly to the emergency.

On seeing them, the robbers took to their heels as they fired sporadically.

Members of the committee returned fire and Baba was immobilized when bullets caught him in the right hand and left leg.

He was captured and handed over to the police at Ejisu.

The injured mother and baby were rushed to the Ejisu Government Hospital and later referred to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).**