CHURCH ROBBERS JAILED 20 YEARS (MIRROR, PAGE 19, APRIL 17, 2010)

From George Ernest Asare, Kumasi

The insatiable appetite of two young men to reap where they had not sown has suddenly changed their dwelling places, as they are to spend the next 20 years in jail.
Atta Bonsu, a 23-year-old petty trader, and Moses Awuah, a 25-year- old carpenter, invaded the premises of Strong Tower Global Church at Santasi Roundabout in Kumasi and made away with musical instruments including an organ, a compressor, trumpet, guitar and two large speakers estimated at GH¢30,000. Luck evaded them at the last minute as they were arrested and all the items retrieved.
They pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to rob and robbing when they appeared before the court, presided over by Justice R.C. Azumah.
However, after the trial, the court found them guilty of the offences and convicted each of them to 20 years in jail.
Giving the facts, a State Attorney, Mrs Victoria Odame–Darkwa, said at dawn on January 4, 2010, the convicts broke into the church and stole the musical instruments but were unable to cart all the items away so they hid some close to the shop of a witness in the case.
The State Attorney said when they returned for the booty, they saw a group of people gathered in the vicinity where the items were hidden and to scare the group away, they fired some warning shots, compelling the people to run for their lives.
That, Mrs Odame-Darkwa said, made it possible for them to retrieve the hidden ‘goods’.
She said a few hours later, the duo returned to the same spot with the intention of buying local gin but the shop owner, who had seen them firing the gun earlier, wanted to know why they fired warning shots to scare the people before carting items that belonged to them away.
Mrs Odame-Darkwa said they pleaded with the shop owner to be quiet about the incident and offered him a handsome reward but the witness informed them that he could not give them the assurance because many people were privy to the incident.
She said not satisfied with what happened at the drinking shop, the convicts again approached other witnesses and pleaded with them to be silent on the issue, but information had already got to the police. They were, therefore, arrested and the items retrieved from them.