Girl, 16, committed to industrial home for stealing

Cape Coast, April 27, GNA - A 16-year-old school dropout, described by the police as a "notorious criminal" and a member of a group of armed robbers operating in the Cape Coast municipality, was on Wednesday committed to the Osu industrial home in Accra, by a circuit court at Cape Coast.

She pleaded guilty to unlawful entry and stealing and would be in the home for three years.

The prosecutor, Inspector Sophia Eva Assan, told the court she was a "known criminal" whose role was to survey areas and monitor victims her group intended to rob. She reports back to the group and sometimes embarked on "operations" on her own.

Inspector Assan said on March 31, she went on one of her personal "operations", broke into the room of one Mr Kofi Panyin, in Cape Coast and stole a suitcase.

When Mr Panyin's younge r brother saw her leaving the room with the suitcase and raised the alarm, she abandoned the suitcase but was chased and arrested.