The funny 1959 story of how a thief unsuccessfully wanted two slaps in order to be released

Even before his case was heard in court, a thief by the name of Daniel Laryea, tried a more unconventional attempt with the woman he had stolen from, hoping it could have been the perfect getaway for him: two slaps and I go scot-free. This, however, was rejected and he had his day in court, getting twelve months in imprisonment from a magistrate of an Accra court in April 1959. According to the Wednesday, April 1, 1959, edition of the Ghana Times newspaper in GhanaWeb’s possession, with the title, “’Mad’ thief asked for two slaps,” it details the rather intriguing court case of how Daniel Laryea wanted to get off easily for his crime. The man, an unemployed resident of Accra, was in court for stealing seven yards of a white drill from a market woman at the Makola No. 1 market, Madam Florence Quaye. According to the report, Laryea made more than one attempt at getting off the hook even before the case was heard in court. “Madam Florence Quaye, whose white drill was stolen, told the court that later after Daniel Laryea was asserted, he went to ask her privately to see the police to dismiss the case. Thomas Kwesi Hammond, who arrested the accused at the market told the court that Laryea pleaded to be freed. “'He asked me to give him two slaps and set him free.’ Of course, the police did not slap him, he took Laryea to the station and charged him with the offence,” portions of the newspaper report stated. The report added that on the day of the judgment, the thief acted very absentminded and stubbornly, refusing to answer questions asked him. It was when the Magistrate, E. A. Bannerman, interjected that Daniel Laryea left perhaps, his last dose of theatrics, although it wasn’t enough to save him. “Then the Senior Magistrate, who must have been a spectator to many of such tricks, told Laryea in a cool advising voice: ‘I have seen this several times, have you anything to tell me?’ “Then Laryea, struggling with the police in the dock, tried the last trick: ‘Your Worship, I am hungry, I can’t do anything,” it added. The Ghana Times report concluded by providing a criminal history of the thief. “According to his record, Laryea had six previous convictions of stealing,” it concluded. AE/PEN