Small-scale miner jailed 7 years for stealing

The Tarkwa Circuit Court on Wednesday sentenced Yaw Amoah, a 30-year-old small scale miner to 7 years imprisonment in hard labour for stealing GHC10,000 and one HP laptop and gold valued at GHC1,700.

The accused pleaded guilty.

Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector Edward Paddy told the Court presided over by Mr. Justice Obeng Asante that the complainant is a gold buyer at Wasa Abreshia and that the accused used to resident at Wasa Japa, all in the Western region.

He said on September 26, this year, the complainant travelled to Kumasi to transact business and the accused, who was closely monitoring the movement of the complainant, took advantage of her absence and broke into her room and stole the items, which belonged to the complainant’s husband.

Chief Inspector Paddy said when the complainant returned from her trip, she detected that her room had been broken into and GHC10,000 and the items stolen.

He said a witness in the case, who stays in the complainant's neighbourhood informed her that Amoah committed the crime on the evening she travelled.

Chief Inspector Paddy said the complainant arrested the accused with the assistance of his friend and handed him over to the police.

He said when a search was conducted in Amoah’s room, the police retrieved one HP laptop and a cash sum of GHC543.