A report by the Statistics and Information Technology Unit (SITU) of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service has revealed that robbery cases in the country soared in 2017.

According to the report, a total of 1,772 robbery cases were recorded at the end of the year 2017 as compared to 1,397 cases in the year 2016.

“This shows an increase of 375 robbery cases as compared to that of 2016 representing 26.8%,” the reported stated.

Per available statistics, according to the SITU report, approximately five cases of robbery were recorded daily in the year 2017.

Again, the report noted that a total of 26 lives were lost through armed robbery in the year 2017 as compared to 79 in the year 2016. Out of these, 20 were innocent victims including three policemen whilst six were armed robbers who engaged Police in a shootout, it said.

Eight female robbery victims were raped, per the report, one of whom was raped to death. One hundred and two robbery victims sustained various degrees of injury including eight Policemen who were shot injured.

Despite education that the public should not take the law into their own hands by meting out instant justice to suspected criminals, four of such cases were recorded over the period nevertheless.

According to the report, 29 foreign nationals including 17 Chinese, two German, one Irish, two Dutch, four Nigerians, two Koreans, and one Lebanese were attacked by robbers.

The SITU report further revealed that murder, defilement, robbery and rape cases are on the increase in the capital, Accra.

According to the report, even though crime has generally reduced nationwide by -0.2%, some crimes are on the ascendancy in the Greater Accra region.

The report indicates that the Police received a total of 201,936 complaints throughout the country in the year 2017 as against 202,276 the previous year.

This represents a decrease of three hundred and forty (340) cases, which translates into -0.2%. Out of this total, 191,770 representing 95.0% were registered as true cases whilst the remaining 10,166 cases representing 5.0% were refused.

The report added that the cases, which were refused, were regarded as trivial, civil in nature or false and so did not warrant Police action.

Out of the true cases, 24,350 cases were sent to court for prosecution. At the court, 7,753 cases representing 31.8% gained conviction whilst 707 representing 2.9% were acquitted.

The report revealed that at the close of the year 2017, 15,890 cases representing 65.3% of the total number of cases sent to court for prosecutions were awaiting trial.

Despite crime generally reducing across the country, robbery, rape, murder and defilement cases were on the rise in the capital and other parts of the country.

The report revealed that the total number of murder cases reported to the Police Service countrywide in 2017 was 607 cases, an increase of 58 cases representing 10.6 % as compared to 2016.

The Ashanti region recorded 128 cases which were the highest in the menace. However, it was a decrease of 27 cases over the previous year representing -17.4%. Nevertheless, Northern and Upper East regions also recorded significant decreases of 18% and 12.5% respectively as compared with that of the previous year.

In Accra, 88 murder cases were recorded in 2017 compared to 48 cases in 2016 representing an increase of 83.3 per cent.

For defilement, 534 cases were recorded in 2017 as against 308 cases in 2016, an increase of 73.4%.

Rape had an increase of 18.0 per cent in Accra while robbery cases jumped from 616 cases in 2016 to 809 cases in 2017 representing a 31.3 increase.

The report also revealed that a total of 1,772 robbery cases were recorded at the end of the year 2017 as compared to 1,397 cases in the year 2016.

This shows an increase of 375 robbery cases as compared to that of 2016 representing 26.8%. Statistics indicate that approximately five (5) cases of robbery were recorded daily in the year 2017.