Two salesmen jailed 5 years for over GH¢115K theft

The Circuit Court in Wejia, presided over by Her Honour Bernard Benstil has sentenced two salesmen to a total of five years in prison for stealing.

The accused persons, Nathaniel Ekow Anderson and Patrick Semadebe are former salesmen at a company at Gbawe in Accra and said to have collected goods amounting to GH¢16,089.89 and GH¢36,561.35 in 2019.

But failed to render account for the goods and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In sentencing the accused person, the court said, it had no choice but to convict the accused of theft on the strength of their admission and given that, they are first time offenders, with their whole life ahead of them.

Anderson was sentenced to two years in prison on each of the two charges of stealing while Semadebe, was also sentenced to three years in prison on all two charges of stealing.

Both are to serve their jail terms concurrently.

Aside from the jail term, the court also ordered that they refund the entire money stolen to the complainant.

Brief facts

In the facts of the case, the complainants, Mrs Patricia Acquaye Pappoe is a businesswoman and owner of 2PA Company Limited at Gbawe in Accra while Mr. Derrick Duodu is also an accountant with the same company.

The accused persons, Nathaniel Ekow Anderson and Patrick Semadebe are former employees of the company as salespersons as well as drivers.

According to the complainants, the accused persons in December 2019, on their regular sales duty, collected goods to the tune of Ghc16,089.89 and Ghc 36,561.35.

The court heard that the accused persons informed the complainants that the suppliers had not paid the amounts involved.

When the complainants mounted pressure on them for the monies, the accused persons provided the complainants with nonexistent phone numbers, which led to dead ends, as contacts of their supposed suppliers.

The complainants, however, discovered after investigations that the two had been paid the amounts in full by the suppliers, which they had misappropriated.

A report was made to the police and the two were arrested.

The accused persons pleaded with the first complainant Mrs Patricia Acquaye Pappoe, the owner of the company to continue working in the company, to offset their debt, to which she agreed.

However, on July 26, 2020, the complainants, discovered that the accused persons had again stolen goods worth Ghc13,332.23 and Ghc31,224.08 from the warehouse.

The matter again was reported to the police and the accused persons arrested.

They admitted to the offence and were subsequently charged and arraigned.