25-YEAR-OLD JAILED FOR ROBBERY (PAGE 44)

THE Kumasi High Court has sentenced a 25-year-old man to 18 years in jail for conspiring with three accomplices to rob a Kumasi-based taxi driver of his car.
The convict, Maxwell Chibsah, alias Ebo, together with the accomplices who were identified as Buckman, Redbone and Cyborg Killer, now at large, pleaded not guilty to the conspiracy and robbery when he appeared before the court but the court ,found him guilty of the offences after the trial and convicted him accordingly.
Armed with locally manufactured pistols and knives, Chibsah, who resides at Moshie Zongo, and his accomplices attacked the complainant, Mr Kwaku Appiah, and robbed him of his KIA Avella taxi with registration number AW 5154 Y, a Nokia cell phone valued at GH¢20.00 and GH¢35.00 cash.
Presenting the facts before the court presided over by Mr Justice R. C. Azumah, a State Attorney, Mr Emmanuel Lawrence Otoo-Boison, said around 8:30 p.m. on January 31, 2007, the convict and his accomplices hired the taxi with Kwaku Appiah in charge, at Tafo, and directed the driver to take them to Moshie Zongo, but on reaching the Komfo Anokye Senior High School, the convict and his accomplices asked the driver to stop for them to alight.
He said as soon as the driver stopped, the convict, who was at the passenger seat, pulled the ignition key while one of his accomplices pulled out a locally manufactured pistol and directed it at his head, warning that he would blow his (driver’s) head if he made any noise.
Mr Otoo-Boison said before the taxi driver could react, one of the accomplices hit his eyebrow and injured him.
He said they pulled the driver out from the vehicle and beat him mercilessly, adding that after subjecting the driver to severe beating, Chibsah took control of the vehicle and sped off to Dechemso, Kenyasi, Asokore Mampong, Krofrom and other suburbs of the Kumasi metropolis where they robbed about 23 victims of their mobile phones, cash and other personal items.
He said in the course of their robbery spree, they encountered a Police Patrol Team at Dechemso, and in an attempt to arrest them an exchange of gunfire ensued, resulting in the death of one of the robbers.
He said the robber was identified as Muhammed Muntari, alias Sofo.
Mr Otoo-Boison said just then, the convict abandoned the taxi and, together with his accomplices, managed to escape from the scene, and during a search on the vehicle, the police retrieved 25 assorted mobile phones and two locally manufactured pistols.
He said police investigations led to the arrest of the convict on May 19, 2009, but in his caution statement, he categorically denied the charges levelled against him.