The Goaso circuit court in the Ahafo Region on Friday sentenced two robbers to a combined 20 years imprisonment for robbery.
This was after they attacked and robbed students of the Goaso Nursing and Midwifery Training College.
Isaac Kwame Bonsu, aged 19, and Mensah Christian, aged 18, attacked the trainee-nurses who were returning to their hostel after night studies at Goaso on April 17.
They pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges to commit a crime, to wit robbery, and were convicted on their own plea by the court presided over by His Lordship Akwesi Acheampong.
Police Chief Inspector Daniel Tawiah told the Goaso circuit court that the incident happened on April 17, 2022.
He said the convicts, armed with scissors, ambushed the students near the Goaso Methodist school compound, and forcefully took away a Techno Spark GO mobile phone, valued at GH¢1,500, GH¢10 cash and other valuable items and fled into the bush.
Swift action
They were later arrested following police investigations. The arrest and prosecution of the two come after the Ahafo Regional Police Command, on April 4, 2022, launched a pilot “Community Safety Patrols” program in Goaso as part of the strategy for crime prevention, building public confidence and trust in police in the communities.
According to the Ahafo Police Command, the safety patrols are also expected to facilitate the sharing of crime-related information between the police and the community and help reduce antisocial behaviours affecting people and the communities. It is believed that the initiative has started yielding positive results.
Meanwhile, some students of the Goaso Nursing and Midwifery Training College, who spoke to the media after the conviction on condition of anonymity, lauded the efforts of the Ahafo Regional Police Command and the community’s vigilance in the swift arrest and prosecution of the robbers.
They thanked the court for the judgment, saying “it should serve as a deterrent to others who may also be planning to embark on similar ventures”.
The students, however, urged the police to continue the community safety patrols and extend them to other parts of the Region, adding that it will help in combating criminalities in the communities.
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