A member of the gang that robbed a forex bureau at Kaneshie in Accra of GHC150,000 in March this year was yesterday sentenced to 21 years’ imprisonment with hard labour by the Accra Circuit Court.
Haruna Abdulai, aka Borbor, was sentenced by the court, presided over by Mr Aboagye Tandoh, after he (Abdulai) had changed his plea from ‘not guilty’ to ‘guilty’.
Since the start of the trial in March this year, Abdulai, together with the other accused person, Yakubu Alhassan, had maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy to commit crime and robbery.
Explanation
At yesterday’s hearing of the case, however, Abdulai made a U-turn from his plea of ‘not guilty’ to ‘guilty with explanation’.
He informed the court that his motive for committing the crime was to get money to expand his auto mechanic shop.
“I am a mechanic and I was looking for money to buy tools and spare parts to expand my business,’’ he said.
To mitigate the sentence, his counsel, Mr Joseph Kaponde, appealed to the court to temper justice with mercy because he (Abdulai) was a first-time offender.
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