Two courts have separately sentenced Abdul  Rashid Dufordzie, aged 26, an auto electrician and a father of four, to a total of 15 years imprisonment in hard labour for committing various crimes including stealing.

The Accra Circuit Court 11 presided over by Patricia Amponsah has jailed Abdul on his own plea of guilt on the charges of causing unlawful damage, unlawful entry, and stealing, which are all frowned upon by the criminal law of the Republic of Ghana.

Mrs. Amponsah in jailing the convict firstly considered his age and remorsefulness before slapping him with two years sentence on the first count and two years six on the second and third charges, and the years are to run concurrently.

The court ordered that the convict should take steps to refund an amount of GH¢21, 000 as value of the items he had stolen to the complainant.

Before the sentence, the court was told by Chief Inspector John Gohoho that the complainant in the case is one Renee Ohene—Djan who is a fashion designer and resides at Nima while Abdul Rashid Dufordzie was a resident of Newtown.

According to him, the convict’s accomplice is Avomyo Roger, a businessman currently on the run, who resides at Teshie. 

He said on January 12, 2022, at about 12:45 am, the convict entered the complainant’s rooms through a front burglar-proof window and made away with cash of GH¢1,300.00, office phone valued GH¢1,200.00, TV monitor valued GH¢4,500.00, flat screen TV valued GH¢5,900.00, Speaker valued GH¢800.00, Iphone 12 Promax valued GH¢5,000.00, Ipod player valued GH¢1.500.00 and Tecno Hot 8 mobile phone valued GH¢800.00, all to the tune of GH¢21,000.00.

The prosecution officer said the convict after stealing the items went into hiding and was arrested after the complainant made an official complaint to Police.

“Police proceeded to the scene of the crime and viewed the 1st accused person captured in the CCTV camera perpetrating the crime and carrying his booty in his armpit and his backpack,” he said.

C/Inspt Gohoho narrated to the court that it was further revealed by Investigation that the accused had an ingress into the complainant’s room by jacking the burglar proof fixed on the window. 

By this criminal act, Abdul removed all the louver blades fixed on the frame and packed same on the complainant’s veranda, adding “Crime scene experts from CID Headquarters were also invited to the scene and fingerprint impression were lifted from both the louver blades and other objects touched by the convict.”

He continued that on February 22, 2022 at 8:20pm, Abdul was arrested from his hideout at Nima and in the course of investigation, admitted committing the offence in his own hand written statement and mentioned the second accused person as the one he sold all the stolen items to. 

The prosecutor added that fingerprints were lifted and forwarded to CID Headquarters for analysis proved that Abdul was the one who went to the complainant’s house and ransacked it as well as  bolted with the aforementioned items.

He alleged that the ccused person admitted buying some of the items from the convict person and selling same at his shop at Kwame Nkrumah Interchange.

According to him, 13 laptops retrieved from the second accused’s shop and same are being kept by the police as evidences. 

C/Inspt Gohoho made an oral application to the court for a bench warrant to be issued for the arrest of Avomyo Roger who initially.waa on police inquiry bail but after reporting to the court with his lawyer, vanished without a trace.

On the part of Accra Circuit Court ‘1’ presided over by Mrs Mrs Afia Owusua Appiah, Abdul will serve six months on causing unlawful damage and unlawful entry respectively and four years on stealing.

However in this instance, Abdul stole from another person by the Kwame Awuku-Yeboah, a Telecommunication engineer and sold it to same Avornyo Roger.

In the facts presented by the Prosecuting Officer, Chief Inspector Samuel Ahiabor, Abdul in December last year sneaked into Kwame’s room at Nima and managed to break his door and burglar proof and made away with Rose Gold Macbook Air 2019 valued GH¢13,000.00, 2 pieces of Airpods valued GH¢1,500.00, one hard drive TB valued GH¢1,200.00, electric shaver valued GH¢1,200.00, and ladies shoulder bag valued GH¢600.00.

Other items Abdul stole are LG Smart TV 32 inch valued GH¢2,500.00, two 2015 Macbook Pro valued 14,000.00, Iphone 8 valued GH¢2,500.00, Iphone 6S valued GH¢1,500.00, Samsung S8 mobile phone valued GH¢3,500.00, Samsung S9 mobile phone valued GH¢5,400.00, Portable speaker JBL valued GH¢2,900.00, HP laptop valued GH¢4,000.00, two Iphone X valued GH¢8,000.00, Jewelry box valued GH¢15,000.00,20 pieces lace (Bag of new clothes) valued GH¢7,000.00 all to the total value of GH¢83,800.004and went into hiding.

He said Kwame lodged an official complaint to Police and when the Police visited the scene of crime, they realised that Abdul was captured in a CCTV camera perpetrating the crime. 

According to him, On February 22, 2022 at about 8:20pm, Abdul was arrested from his hideout at Nima and admitted the offence during investigation and also mentioned the name of the the second accused who absconded shortly after appearing before the court.

The prosecutor added on 24/02/2022 at about 2:30pm, the convict ed Police to the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, specific the  Tip—Toe lane and pointed at  Avornyo Roger as the one he had been selling his booty to. he told the court that Avornyo Roger also admitted the offence in his investigation cautioned statement. 

C/Inspt Ahiabor stressed that when a search wasconducted at Avornyo Roger’s shop, 13 pieces of different brands of laptops  were retrieved and retained for evidential purpose. 

The circuit court 1 has equally issued a bench warrant for Avornyo Roger’s arrest and adjourned case to March 30, 2022.