A 24-year-old man, Benjamjn Kofi Larbi, has been sentenced to 25 years imprisonment in hard labour by the Asamankese Circuit Court, presided over by, His Worship Abubakari Adams Abass, for robbing a Toyota Yaris taxi cab with registration number AS 1869-20.
Three of his accomplices, Stephen Kofi Gyamfi, 22, Kofi Richard, 20 and Kelvin Asante, 19, who pleaded not guilty have all been remanded into police custody to reappear before the court on March 31.
Background
According to the police, on Wednesday, February 24, Gyamfi (believed to be the ringleader) chartered the Toyota Yaris taxi cab from Poku Sika hotel in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital, to Nsawam in the Eastern Region with the claim of inspecting his farmland.
However, upon reaching Suhum, the taxi driver, Enock Atuobi Okane, was asked by the ringleader to pick three of his colleagues. After picking them up, the driver was directed to take the Asamankese road towards the Akroso direction and branch to a village called Wasabiampa on the Akroso road. While on their way, they asked him to stop near a bush.
The police said the victim who sensed danger told the suspects that he wanted to ease himself in the bush and upon returning, the suspects attacked him and tried to lynch him, but he managed to escape and reported the incident to the nearby police checkpoint at Adiembra.
The suspects were traced and arrested by the police, with assistance from the residents, in the evening of the same day at Wasabiampa, near Akroso, in the Eastern Region.
