Ernest Boakye was sentenced for stealing GH¢398,545 belonging to his employer.

The 30-year-old was slapped with the sentence after the court held that the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt to establish his guilt.

In May 2021, the administrator of Infin Ghana Limited noticed some discrepancies in the pay-in-slips by Boakye as against the bank statements, according to the prosecution.

On June 16, 2021, officers of the company assessed the sales by Boakye and realised that he had stolen GHC92,457 after which his arrest was effected.

Also, the court said it could not ignore the fact that Boakye committed the crime in 2021 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when businesses were laying off workers and people were in distress.

“The complainant company did not lay off the convict. He still kept his job to enable him to take care of himself and his family. Instead of reciprocating this gesture by working diligently and with integrity, he rather decided to betray the trust of the company and stole such a huge sum of money from them,” the presiding judge, Stephen Kumi said.

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Stephen Lamptey (aka Spatar) 19, however, pleaded guilty to the charge of defilement.

Handing the sentence, the trial judge, Mrs. Rita Abrokwah-Doko, said she took into consideration the age of the convict and the fact that he was a first time offender.

Thus Lamptey was given the minimum sentence to encourage him to reform.

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The trial judge, therefore, advised Lamptey to look for his age mate the next time he wanted to have sex because his peers would consent to his request either for free or on credit.

Prosecuting, Detective Chief Inspector Kofi Atimbire said the mother of the victim, who resided at Glefe, filed the complaint.

Lamptey, who was their neighbor, visited his friend, a co-tenant at the residence of the complainant, where he watched television with the victim and her junior sister.

At about 2000 hours, the Prosecutor said Lamptey’s friend entered his room only to find the victim sitting on the laps of Lamptey, who had engaged her in a sexual activity; while the little girl was asleep.

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Lamptey’s friend declined his request to buy his silence for GHC 20.

When he proceeded to drag Lamptey to the victim’s mother, he fought back, but he overpowered him and sent him there, along with the victim.

When the victim narrated her ordeal to the mother, she reported the case to the Dansoman Police and was given a medical form to send the victim to the hospital for attention.

Lamptey was, subsequently, arrested.

Source: GNA