Convict weeps in court after sentence

Juaso (Ash), Feb. 13, GNA - An accused person, shortly after receiving a seven-year jail sentence for stealing at a Circuit Court at Juaso on Monday stirred the emotions of the audience when he broke down in tears and pleaded with the judge to pardon him. Yaw Opoku, 32, pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful entry and stealing personal effects valued at GH¢282 and was convicted on his own plea.

The sentence brings to 14 years because the same court had sentenced him seven years in jail a week earlier on another charge of stealing 40 pieces of dictionaries belonging to the Adumasa Roman Catholic Junior High School.

Police Chief Inspector Mathias Ahiabor, prosecuting, told the court, presided over by Mr Jacob Boon, that the accused was a farmer while the complainant was a trader and that both of them lived at Adumasa.

He said the complainant, a food vendor, left her room in the early hours of January 18 on her rounds to prepare food for sale. He said the woman returned to her bedroom later to discover that someone had made away with her gold watch, a set of bracelet and a cash of GH¢180. The prosecution said the convict was suspected and arrested on January 29 and a search conducted on him revealed the missing items with the exception of the cash.