A 48-year-old head porter has been sentenced to two years in prison by the Dansoman Circuit Court after being found guilty of causing unlawful damage and stealing metal guardrails belonging to the Ghana Highway Authority.

Yaw Asare, who pleaded not guilty, was convicted in June after the court found his explanation inconsistent with his plea.

The presiding judge, El-Alawa Abdul Bassiit, convicted him and remanded him into custody for sentencing at a later date.

The court deferred his sentencing to allow the prosecution to furnish the court with the value of the damage caused to the Obetsebi Lamptey Overpass at Kaneshie.

Asare was subsequently handed a two-year jail term to be served at the Nsawam Prison.

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Facts of the case

According to the prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Emelia Mensah, the complainant, Adam Alhassan, is a resident of Sukura, while the accused, Asare, hails from Kwame Nkrumah Circle.

She detailed that several months after the completion of the Obetsebi Lamptey Overpass, it came to their notice that the metal guardrails, secured with offset blocks, were being stolen.

Consequently, surveillance was put in place to monitor the situation.

On June 9, at approximately 11:30 pm, the complainant and his patrol team came across a mob attacking the accused.

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They stepped in and saved Asare from the assault.

Further investigation at the scene uncovered that he had detached six sections of the metal guardrails from their offset blocks.

Asare was subsequently turned over to the police, along with the evidence and a shifting spanner tool.

During questioning, he confessed to the crime, explaining that he had removed the metal pieces with the intention of selling them to scrap dealers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Roads and Highways has raised concerns over a growing trend of members of the public causing unlawful damage to road infrastructure, including vandalism and vehicular crashes, especially those involving traffic lights.

“In recent times, the Ministry of Roads and Highways has observed with deep concern the rapid rate at which some members of the public cause unlawful damage to road infrastructure, including vandalism and vehicular crashes, especially those involving traffic lights,” the ministry said in a statement issued on Friday, August 22, 2025.



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