The Sunyani District Court B sentenced the main culprit, a student, to two years’ imprisonment, while three others were handed heavy fines for receiving stolen property.

The ruling brings closure to a high-value theft case involving state-owned equipment intended for national registration exercises.

Investigations revealed that the NIA warehouse at Newtown, a suburb of Sunyani, was broken into on two separate occasions between January and October 2022. During the break-ins, the suspects stole 26 HP laptops and other office equipment.

The stolen items were valued at GH₵405,570.00.

The case remained unresolved until March 4, 2023, when a tip-off from a member of the public led police to Asante Anthony Junior, a student, who was arrested at Newtown.

At the time of his arrest, police found him in possession of items later identified by the NIA as stolen property.

Further investigations established that the laptops had been sold to three individuals: Ameyaw Eliezer, a mobile phone repairer; Jovies Amoh Afriyie, also known as Lord; and Dodzi Kwaku Gordon.

Delivering judgment, the court emphasised deterrence in sentencing.

Asante Anthony Junior was convicted on multiple counts of stealing and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment on each count, with the sentences to run concurrently.

Ameyaw Eliezer, Jovies Amoh Afriyie and Dodzi Kwaku Gordon were convicted of dishonestly receiving stolen property and each fined GH₵20,000.00.

The court further ruled that any of the three who fails to pay the fine will serve an 18-month prison sentence in default.

In a statement signed by Chief Inspector Thomas Akeelah, Public Relations Officer of the Bono Regional Police Command, the police said investigations are still ongoing, as other accomplices involved in the warehouse break-ins remain at large.

“The Command encourages members of the public with relevant information to assist the Police in bringing all persons connected to the crime to justice,” the statement said.

The police assured the public that efforts are continuing to arrest the remaining suspects and recover the laptops yet to be retrieved.

The convicts were arrested on September 18, 2025, at Gbintiri near Nalerigu, together with four others, in connection with 1,195 boxes of tramadol hydrochloride (120mg), a restricted pharmaceutical drug popularly known as “Red.”

Police reports revealed that 100 boxes of the substance were found directly in their possession, while over 4,500 additional packs were concealed in 25 yellow five-litre gallons.

When arraigned before the Nalerigu Circuit Court, Iddrisu and Braimah pleaded guilty to two counts—conspiracy to commit a crime and possession of restricted drugs without lawful authority.

Presiding Judge, Justice Francis Asobayire, sentenced each of them to 10 years’ imprisonment per count, to run consecutively, and imposed a fine of 5,000 penalty units (GH¢60,000). In default, they will serve an additional 10 years in prison.

The remaining four accused persons were discharged due to lack of evidence.

Police commended the Nalerigu Youth Association and residents of the North East Region for their assistance in the operation and warned that anyone involved in illicit drug trade would face the full rigours of the law.

He was accused, alongside Alfred Yekatom, of co-ordinating attacks against the country’s Muslim population in 2013-14.

Yekatom, nicknamed Rambo, was found guilty of 20 charges. The judges gave their verdict after a trial lasting almost four years involving more than 170 witnesses and nearly 20,000 items of evidence.

Ngaïssona was sentenced to 12 years, and Yekatom to 15 years.

Violence has gripped the CAR for much of the past decade, but a recent peace deal led to the dissolution of two rebel groups this month.

CAR was plunged into turmoil in 2013 when predominantly Muslim rebels from the Séléka group seized power in the majority Christian country.

A band of mostly Christian militias, called the anti-Balaka, rose up to counter Séléka after then-President François Bozizé was ousted.

Ngaïssona and Yekatom were convicted of numerous crimes, including murder, torture and persecuting a religious group.

Ngaïssona was acquitted of rape, while Yekatom was cleared of enlisting children as soldiers.

Both men had denied all charges.

The prosecution set out the alleged system of command, saying Ngaïssona provided funds and instructions to anti-Balaka groups in 2013 and 2014.

Yekatom was a commander who allegedly led fighters into the capital, Bangui, on 5 December 2013 where civilians were slaughtered.

The prosecution said the pair’s strategy was to make all Muslims their target, describing them as “enemies of the nation”.

Yekatom authorised his fighters to attack Muslim civilians, including to slit throats, cut off ears and bury people alive, the prosecution alleged.

Asked to enter a plea at the start of the trial, both men rejected all the charges.

Media reports at the time indicate that at least 1,000 people were killed in tit-for-tat clashes in Bangui in December 2013, and half the city’s population fled in that month alone.

Who is Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona?

He was the self-declared political co-ordinator of anti-Balaka forces.

Ngaïssona was barred from running for CAR president in 2015 because of his alleged role in the atrocities.

He is a former head of the CAR’s football federation and briefly served as sports minister before being elected to the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) in February 2018.

His appointment was criticised by several human rights groups.

“If the allegations were true, I wouldn’t be here today,” he told AFP news agency at the time. “[I don’t] mix politics and sport – everything I’ve done has been for the good of my country.”

French authorities arrested him in December 2018, and he was transferred to the ICC in January 2019.

Who is Alfred Yekatom?

Yekatom was elected as an MP in 2016, despite being subject to UN sanctions.

He was arrested in October 2018 after he fired a gun in parliament, then ran away, after a row with a fellow MP.

His extradition to the ICC was the first from CAR.

The International Federation for Human Rights (known by its French acronym FIDH) said it signalled the authorities there were committed to fighting impunity.

The woman, believed to be in her late 40s, died from her injuries shortly after the attack.

Prosecutors told the court that the incident, which occurred in their family residence, left the couple’s only child severely traumatized.

The accused was charged with murder before criminal court 5, presided over by Justice Kizita Naa Koowa Quarshie.

However, he entered a guilty plea to the lesser offence of manslaughter, a move accepted by the court, leading to his conviction on that charge.

During the sentencing phase, his defense counsel made a strong plea for leniency, requesting a five-year sentence.

The defense argued that the convict was a first-time offender, a respected member of society, and the primary breadwinner of the family.

It was also noted that he had already spent close to two years in custody while awaiting trial.

The prosecution, however, held firm in its call for justice, urging the court to impose a 30-year sentence. They emphasized the gruesome nature of the act, the vulnerability of the victim, and the devastating psychological toll on the couple’s young son, who remains deeply traumatized.

In delivering judgment, the presiding judge acknowledged the mitigating factors but stressed that the aggravating circumstances could not be ignored.

The case has once again raised concerns about domestic violence in the country and its long-term impact on children exposed to such traumatic events.

A spokesperson for the country’s sports ministry told the AFP news agency that the conviction related to an “unlawful contract between the FTF and a technical director” during Jary’s time in office.

The 52-year-old’s lawyers say he will appeal against the verdict.

Jary was first elected head of the FTF in 2012 and faced multiple allegations of impropriety during his reign, including match-fixing, financial misconduct and money laundering, all of which he denied.

Local media also reported on disputes between Jary and the sports ministry, while in January 2021 he received a four-year ban from the Tunisian National Olympic Committee after it claimed he had “breached national and international Olympic ethics codes”.

Despite that ban, Jary was elected to the Confederation of African Football’s (Caf) executive committee just two months later.

He remained on the the committee while awaiting trial, with Caf general secretary Veron Mosengo-Omba telling the BBC last year that the organisation was “not protecting crooks” and would make a decision on Jary once a verdict was delivered by the Tunisian legal system.

After the charges against him emerged, Jary was taken into custody in October 2023.

Adu would be compelled to serve 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, if he fails to pay the fine imposed on him.

He pleaded guilty to unlawful entry and stealing, begged the court for forgiveness.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Abraham Ayitey told the court presided over by Mrs Hathia Ama Manu that, Francis Arhin, the complainant is a resident of Bawdie in the Wassa Amenfi East Municipality and a commercial motor rider, while Adu resided at Bogoso in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality.

On October 19, 2024, the complainant parked his unregistered Haojin motor bike in his house at night and retired to bed, woke up the following day only to detect that it had been stolen.

Chief Inspector Ayitey said the complainant alerted his neighbours and friends in Bawdie and its environs to help him find his missing motorbike.

Prosecution said on Sunday October 27, 2024, around 2:00 am Adu was seen at Wassa Bawdie riding the complainant’s motorbike and he was apprehended and sent to the Bawdie Police station to aid investigations.

He said the complainant was invited over to the police station, he went and identified the motorbike as his own.

Chief Inspector Ayitey said Adu confessed to the crime and told the police that, about two weeks ago, between 12:00 midnight to 1:00 am, he sneaked into the complainant’s house and stole his motorbike and has since been using it for his errands until he was arrested.

The suspects received 40 years each for robbery and are scheduled to reappear before the court on November 28, 2024, for the murder charge.

As reported by Adom News on July 14, 2022, a 22-year-old man, Francis Mawunya, and his friend, Benjamin Acquah, hired an Okada rider from Awutu Bontrase to Awutu Mfadwen. Upon reaching a section of the road, the suspects robbed the motorcycle and killed the rider for money rituals.

The suspects killed the 18-year-old, Kwame Ogyam, took his motorcycle, and removed his body parts in an attempt to use them for money rituals, with the goal of buying lavish cars for the 2022 Awutu Awubia Festival.

On November 11, 2024, the Cape Coast Circuit Court sentenced the suspects to 40 years in prison with hard labor and set a date for their reappearance in court on November 28, 2024, for the murder charge.

After the court ruling, the father of the deceased, Kwame Darko, expressed his joy and called on parents to take better care of their children to avoid such occurrences.

Meanwhile, some family members commended the police and the judiciary for delivering justice.

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He was convicted after a seven-member jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict against him on two counts of murder following a full trial.

The convict was said to have used a hammer to hit the head of his late wife, 53-year-old Claudia Weizmann. Fearing that their 14-year-old daughter would report the incident to the police, he then strangled her to death.

The prosecution, led by Yvonne Yaachie-Adomako, an Assistant State Attorney, called five witnesses to prove their case.

When asked by the presiding judge, Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, if he had anything to say before his sentencing, Aloys responded that he had nothing to say.

According to police, Boigouna Aloys, who was 43 at the time of the incident, buried the two bodies at the far end of their 10-plot property in Kokrobite to avoid suspicion.

Neighbors noticed the sudden disappearance of the German woman and her daughter, as well as a foul odor similar to that of a decomposing animal coming from the property. They reported the matter to the police, which led to Aloys’ arrest.

Police investigations revealed that the stench was from human remains, leading them to suspect the Burkinabe of allegedly killing his wife and daughter.

The police said, “The suspect has since confessed to the crime, adding that he used a hammer to strike his wife in the head after a misunderstanding, killing her instantly. Fearing that his daughter would report the matter to the police, he strangled the 14-year-old girl to death before burying them on their compound.”

Boigouna Aloys had married his wife in Germany, and the couple decided to relocate to Ghana. Reports indicate that the family arrived in the country in January 2020 and had been living in a three-bedroom apartment situated on a 10-plot property in Kokrobite.

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The convict, Richard Amissah, popularly known as IGP, pleaded guilty with an explanation of the offence when he appeared before the Tarkwa Circuit Court.

Prosecuting, Police Sergeant Dominic Appiah Kusi, told the court presided over by Mrs Hathia Ama Manu that the complainant was a hairdresser, residing at Booboobo with the victim who is her daughter, while the convict lives in Akoon.

On Saturday, September 7, 2024, at about 1800 hours, the complainant sent the victim to a Senior High School in Tarkwa to give provisions to her elder sister, and she obliged.

He said on her way back to the house, Amissah saw her and asked for directions, but he suddenly held her neck tightly and forcefully dragged her to a nearby bush and had sexual intercourse with her.

The prosecution said the convict, who was not satisfied with the act, held the victim’s shoulder and pulled her to Akoon, a bushy place in the area where he had sex with the victim again.

Sergeant Kusi said the victim went home weeping and told her ordeal to the complainant who then lodged a complaint at the Tarkwa Regional Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU).

A Police medical report form was then issued to the complainant to send the victim to the hospital for treatment and endorsement, she returned the same duly endorsed by a medical officer.

The prosecution said Amissah was picked up and after questioning, he admitted the offence and begged for forgiveness.

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GBC Ghana Online reports that Pastor Love, a former husband of gospel musician Obaapa Christie, was found guilty of the offence after seven years of trial.

Before he was sentenced, Pastor Love pleaded with the court for mercy, adding that he was willing to pay any fine that would be imposed on him.

The court, presided over by Isaac Addo, took into consideration the fact that the convicted Pastor Love was a first-time offender.

 

The court held that as a Pastor, he was expected to hold a high level of integrity, especially in matters of trust, and therefore handed him the 48-month jail term as a fair deterrent.

 

The facts of the case as presented by ASP Frimpong was that in 2016 one Samuel Amankwah, a resident of the US, shipped a 4×4 vehicle into Ghana and tasked Pastor Love to clear it from the port.

The convict cleared the said vehicle with his money, after which the complainant told him to sell it for US$50,000 and deduct the amount he paid as duty.

Later, the complainant told Pastor Love to hold on with the sale of the vehicle as he would travel into Ghana and refund his money.

The complainant lodged a complaint with the Police and Pastor Love was arrested in May 2017.

During interrogation, the convicted Pastor Love told the Police that he secured a loan of GH¢40,000 with 20 percent interest to clear the vehicle and was accruing more interest, so he sold the vehicle at GH¢80,000 without the consent of the owner and paid GH¢70,000 to the loan company.

Meanwhile, Pastor Love was unable to lead the Police to the said loan company to verify the claim and could not also tell who bought the vehicle.

The Judge said the convict was dishonest to the Court.

Paul Nelson, charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and stealing unspecified sacks of bathroom sandals with an unknown value, pled guilty.

The trial judge, Mr. Isaac Addo convicted Nelson of his own plea.

His accomplices, identified as Ali and Ibrahim, are at large.

The prosecution said that Mercy Tuffour, the complainant, is a businesswoman who lives in Amrahia, Accra.

Nelson works as a security guard at Holy Believe Company, which sells Bel Aqua water and other beverages on Graphic Road in Accra, and he lives in Mallam Gbawe.

The court heard that Ali and Ibrahim are also loading boys for Madam Tuffour.

According to the prosecution, Madam Tuffour dealt in bathroom sandals and sold them in bulk.

It said that Madam Tuffour keeps the warehouse on top of the Holy Believe Company building, and Nelson is the night security guard.

In December 2023, Madam Tuffour engaged the services of Nelson to provide security at her warehouse.

The prosecution said on August 9, 2024, at about 1900 hours, Ali and Ibrahim climbed and entered Madam Tuffour’s warehouse where they met Nelson.

On entering the warehouse, Ali and Ibrahim damaged one of the doors of the facility and stole an unspecified number of sacks containing bathroom sandals.

After the act, Nelson took custody of some of the goods while Ali and Ibrahim brought in a mini kia truck to load the sacks containing the bathroom sandals.

The court heard that Ali and Ibrahim left 53 sacks of bathroom sandals behind.

However, when Ali and Ibrahim were leaving with the footwear, Madam Tuffour learned of it and sent her younger brother, Nana Opoku, to the location, where he saw Nelson with 54 sacks of bathroom sandals in his custody.

The prosecution said Nelson was arrested together with the exhibits and a formal complainant was made.

During interrogation, Nelson mentioned Ali and Ibrahim as accomplices, but he was unable to lead the police to them or tell them where the stolen items had been sent.

The prosecution said the police were making extensive attempts to apprehend Ali and Ibrahim and recover the remaining stolen goods.

Source: GNA

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The prosecutor stated that the suspects, Kwabena Annan, 35 years old, and Kwabena Anum, 31-years-old, hired a group of land guards and locked the chief’s palace two years ago.

After their arrest, the suspects were sent to Kasoa Circuit Court, where they pleaded guilty and signed a bond of good behavior, pledging not to lock the palace again.

However, the prosecutor said that in May of this year, the same group of people attacked the caretaker of the palace and locked the palace again while the Chief of Gomoa Akotsi, Nana Safo Ninson and his elders were going to perform annual rituals at the palace.

The suspects have been sentenced to four years of imprisonment, two years each, with hard labour.

They are going to serve their jail term at Ankaful Prison.

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The Odumase Krobo District Court handed down the verdict on Wednesday, July 17, 2024.

Tetteh was arrested on Sunday, July 14, 2024, following an investigation prompted by complaints from The Life of Christ Ministry and Christian Vision International Church.

He was apprehended at his shop in Abanse after attempting to sell four GSL speakers stolen from The Life of Christ Ministry’s Nuaso Odjadornya temple.

Two individuals suspected of being accomplices to Tetteh are currently in custody at Koletso Police Station, pending further investigation and potential charges.

The convict was sent to Akuse Prisons to begin his jail term after successfully receiving a COVID vaccination on Wednesday afternoon.

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Nii Kotey Susubribi, also known as Nii Isaac or Kotey Nii Quaye, who claims to be the chief of Abehenase, near Amasaman, has been found guilty of charges including threats of death and fraudulent transactions.

The Court, presided over by Mrs. Evelyn Asamoah, sentenced him accordingly. The convict shed tears as he awaited police officers to escort him to prison to begin his sentence.

The prosecution, led by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Seth Frimpong, stated that the first complainant, Alfred Abosu, was a businessman residing in Achimota, while the second complainant, Freeman Kofi Owusu, was a businessman residing in New Achimota, Accra.

ASP Frimpong explained that in 2003, Mr. Abosu, the first complainant, purchased 1.869 acres of land in Abehenease from the Amah Asor family, which was lawfully presented by the accused person’s late senior brother, Kotey Nii Kwei.

The prosecution mentioned that Mr. Abosu subsequently obtained Land Title Certificate No. GA 22047 dated December 2005 covering the land.

According to the prosecution, Mr. Abosu built two single rooms on a portion of the land and gave it to his caretaker, Korsi Tondey.

The court was informed that Mr. Abosu had never been harassed until February 21, 2015, when the accused person, now a convict, began interfering with Abosu’s land, claiming ownership of the same land.

The prosecution stated that in March 2015, the convict and his group of thugs consistently threatened Mr. Abosu’s caretaker, Korsi Tondey, to vacate the land or face death.

“The caretaker, fearing for his life, packed his belongings and left the land. The accused person then fraudulently sold a portion of the land to unsuspecting members of the public, including the second complainant, Freeman Kofi Owusu, for GHc42,000.”

The prosecution added that a search obtained from the Land Registration Division of the Land Commission in Accra confirmed Mr. Abosu’s title to the land.

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Jeffery Johnson is said to have stabbed one of the complainants, Ebenezer Danquah, in the right hand with a pair of scissors.

Johnson, charged with robbery and causing harm, pleaded not guilty.

However, the court presided over by Mrs. Afia Owusuaa Appiah at the end of the trial found Johnson guilty and sentenced him accordingly.

Prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Wisdom Alorwu, told the court that the first complainant, Ebenezer Danquah was a chef, and the second complainant, a Kitchen attendant.

Chief Inspector Alorwu said the two complainants worked at Papaye Food Company while the accused person, now a convict, is a driver’s mate and a resident of Teshie in Accra.

The prosecution told the court that on February 17, 2024, between the hours of 1:00 am and 1:30 am, Johnson together with his accomplice at large, rode their motorbike to the complainants’ house.

On entering the house, the prosecution said Johnson met the two complainants who had closed from work.

It said Johnson and his accomplice attacked the complainants, with Johnson stabbing Ebenezer Danquah, the first complainant, in his right hand.

The prosecutor said Johnson and his accomplice succeeded in robbing them of an iPhone X, a Huawei and Itel phones all valued at GH₵4,200 and bolted.

The prosecution said the complainant, however, raised the alarm and residents came to their aid and apprehended Johnson, adding that Johnson’s accomplice escaped.

The prosecution said the complainant managed to identify Johnson as one of the two persons who robbed them and he was handed over to a Police Patrol Team that arrived at the scene.

The court heard that when Johnson was searched, an Itel mobile phone and a pair of scissors used in committing the act were found on him.

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He was convicted on his plea of guilty to offence of robbery.

The prosecutor, Chief Inspector Eric Twum, told the court that, the complaint Bernice Yeboah and the convict live in Aduabin community in the Bosomtwi district in Ashanti region.

One Thursday, December 1, 2022 at about 9:00pm, Michael Nhyira Cobbina armed with knife attacked the complainant who was sleeping with her two children in a room.

The traumatized children started screaming for help but could not be heard due to the remoteness of the house.

Under knife point the convict threatened and demanded the complainant to give him money but the complainant had no money, hence gave him her itel mobile phone which contained Ghc2,000 e-cash in mobile wallet.

Days later, a witness in the case who bought the mobile phone for the complaint saw the wife of the accused in possession of same stolen phone.

The witness gave the complainant a tip off which she quickly reported the case at Feyiase police station on December 8, 2022.

Police trailed and retrieved the mobile phone. A search on the phone saw the pictures of Michael Nhyira Cobbina together with his wife.

Cobbina was immediately arrested by the Police.

He admitted robbing the woman during interrogation and led police to his room to hand over exhibits.

Michael Nhyira Cobina was charged with robbery contrary to section 149 of the criminal offences Act, Act 29 of 1960 and arraigned.

James Amuzu, charged with causing harm, pleaded not guilty.

The court, presided over by Mrs Patricia Amponsah, however, found Amuzu guilty and sentenced him accordingly.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector John Gohoho said the complainant, Eugene Akyea, was a computer Engineer Technician residing at Spintex Road near Sakumono.

The prosecution said Amuzu resided at Community 18, Sakumono.

It said on April 27, 2022, Eugene Akyea reported to the Police at Sakumono that his brother, Richard Akyea had been stabbed by Amuzu at 12th First Avenue Spintex Road and he had been rushed to Danpong Medical Centre.

The prosecution said the Police proceeded to Danpong Medical Centre and they had information that the victim had been referred to Tema General Hospital for an emergency surgery.

It said on April 27, 2022, at about 8:30 pm, the victim Richard Akyea, Joseph Nat Adams and one Charlotte were on board an unregistered Honda Accord car going home after watching a football match when they saw Amuzu, and his friend known as Dennis, walking in the middle of the road.

The prosecution said Joseph Nat Adams, who was then driving the vehicle at the time, decided to alert Amuzu and his friend about the oncoming vehicle behind them by putting the vehicle’s gear on neutral and pressed on the accelerator.

It said Amuzu and his friend became frightened, and they both jumped on the right and left sides of the road respectively, because of the loud noise of the car’s engine.

The prosecution said that did not go down well with Amuzu, resulting in a heated argument with the driver of the vehicle and Amuzu.

It said the victim alighted from the vehicle and calmed Amuzu down, asking him to leave the scene.

The prosecution said Amuzu rather turned his anger on the victim and hit him in the left eye.

It said the victim was dazed and Amuzu rushed on him on the ground.

The prosecution said after the victim was rescued, he (victim) detected that Amuzu had stabbed him with an unknown object.

It said the victim began bleeding from his stomach and Amuzu on seeing the seriousness of the victim’s injury took to his heels but he was nabbed after a chase and handed over to the Police at Sakumono.

The prosecution said on April 29, 2022, the Police proceeded to the Tema General Hospital Male Ward where the victim was found with plaster on the left side of his tummy with swollen red eyes.

According to the prosecution, the victim’s shirt was retrieved from the scene for evidential purposes.

Amuzu in his caution statement denied stabbing the victim but admitted having fought the victim.

Adrian Kwiatkowski traded the music by Sheeran and 12 songs by rapper Lil Uzi Vert in exchange for cryptocurrency.

The 23-year-old, from Ipswich, managed to get hold of them after hacking the performers’ digital accounts, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

Kwiatkowski admitted 19 charges, including copyright infringement and possessing criminal property.

He had made £131,000 from the music, City of London Police said.

Ipswich Crown Court heard that when the defendant’s Apple Mac laptop was searched, 565 audio files, including the songs by Sheeran and Vert, were uncovered.

Spirdark alias

An investigation was initially launched by US authorities in 2019.

It came after the management of several musicians reported to the New York District Attorney that someone known online as Spirdark had hacked a number of accounts and was selling the content.

The investigation linked the email address used to set up Spirdark’s cryptocurrency account to Kwiatkowski. His home address in the UK was also linked to an IP address used to hack one of the devices.

The case was then referred to the City of London Police and Kwiatkowski was arrested in September 2019.

According to police, seven devices, including a hard drive that contained 1,263 unreleased songs by 89 artists, were seized.

A document saved on the hard drive summarised the method he had used to obtain them along with a stash of Bitcoin which was seized.

Chief crown prosecutor Joanne Jakymec said Kwiatkowski had “complete disregard” for the musicians’ creativity, hard work and lost earnings.

“He selfishly stole their music to make money for himself by selling it on the dark web,” she said.

“We will be pursuing ill-gotten gains from these proceeds of crime.”

In August, Kwiatkowski pleaded guilty at Ipswich Magistrates Court to three charges of unauthorised access to computer material, 14 charges of selling copyrighted material, one charge of converting criminal property and two charges of possession of criminal property.

He also admitted receiving bitcoin cryptocurrency for the songs.

Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt said Kwiatkowski was highly skilled but it was unfortunate he used his talents unlawfully.

“Not only did he cause several artists and their production companies significant financial harm, he deprived them of the ability to release their own work,” he added.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr said the case showed “cybercrime knows no borders”.

“This individual executed a complex scheme to steal unreleased music in order to line his own pockets,” he said.

Samuel Hagan,alias “Tuga,” denied the offence but he was found culpable after trial.

Police Chief Inspector Benson Benneh told the Court presided over by Mrs Evelyn Asamoah that complainants, in this case, were Police Officers stationed at Mamprobi and Hagan was a petty trader who lived at Dansoman Beach Road.

On February 4, 2022,at about 1800 hours, Mamprobi Police command embarked on an operation to arrest suspected drug peddlers and users within its jurisdiction, he told the Court.

Chief Inspector Benneh said the team, acting on a tip-off, went to a ghetto at Dansoman Beach where undercover men were placed among the people present, adding that whilst there, Hagan, the convict, was spotted with a multi-coloured polythene bag containing wrappers of dried plant materials suspected to be narcotic drugs which he was selling out.

The prosecution said the team was called in and the convict was arrested with 42 wrappers of dried plant materials suspected to be narcotic drugs.

He said the convict together with the exhibits were sent to the station for investigation.

Chief Inspector Benneh said Hagan claimed ownership of the 42 dried plant materials suspected to be narcotic drugs and that he was selling them.

Kurtis Dilks, 35, was also ordered to serve an extended licence period of five years by a judge at Nottingham Crown Court who said the former Chelsea and Arsenal defender and his partner Sharon Canu had suffered psychological impacts that “cannot be overstated”.

The judge said the attack on the footballer’s Surrey home was “extremely terrifying”, and he described the gang as “intelligent, violent and chillingly ruthless men”.

Dilks’ trial heard Cole had told police he thought “now I am going to die” as he recalled how the masked raiders tied his hands behind his back despite him holding his young daughter.

Dilks was the only one of the gang responsible for the robbery to be caught after his DNA was recovered on the cable ties used to restrain Cole and Ms Canu.

He was convicted alongside five others for their roles in a string of what prosecutors said were “ruthlessly executed” robberies and burglaries between October 2018 and January 2020.

In an impact statement read to the court earlier, Cole said the “terror and confusion” on his children’s faces when the gang smashed into his home “will never leave” him.

Read by a prosecutor, the former full-back said in his statement: “The picture of that night remains and impacts everything.”

He added: “These images and thoughts will never ever leave my mind and can pop up any time.”

He said he has invested heavily in security at his home in Fetcham, Surrey, which now feels “like a fortress”.

But he said he still cannot go out to the bin without a torch and guard dog.

Ms Canu was in court on Friday to hear her statement also being read by prosecutor Michael Brady QC.

She said the raid has had a “huge impact” on her life, remembering how she tried to hide in a wardrobe with her son as her husband was tied up and her daughter pleaded for comfort.

She said: “That will never leave me”.

Ms Canu despite the dogs, panic alarms and fences that have been installed in the property, she still does not feel safe.

She said the family considered moving but “the truth is that the feelings and the fear would be there no matter where the house was”.

As well as the attack on Cole, Dilks was found guilty of conspiring to rob the wife of former Tottenham, Hull and Derby midfielder Tom Huddlestone in May 2019 with fellow defendants Ashley Cumberpatch and Andrew MacDonald.

The trio were also convicted of being part of the theft of a £3.5m tiara worn to the coronation of Edward VII from the Harley Gallery on the Welbeck Estate in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, in 2018.

Cole was not in court on Friday.

Wearing an orange and black patterned shirt and sporting a mask, Dilks sat in the glass-fronted dock with five other defendants, staring forward as he listened to the impact statements.

The sentence imposed on the Singaporean, who had lied to the victims’ parents that he was a qualified educational therapist, was the longest ever meted out in Singapore for sexual offences, prosecutors said.

Justice Ang Cheng Hock called the case, which involved eight victims, an “exceptionally sickening sexual abuse”, according to a report by TODAY.

The man, now 54, pleaded guilty to six charges of aggravated rape committed against three of the victims from 2002 to 2018. Two of the victims were five years old when the man raped them, while another was eight.

Another 80 charges were considered for sentencing including sexual exploitation of a minor, attempted aggravated rape, and outrage of modesty.

The man, who had a relationship with the mother of one of the victims, cannot be named due to a gag order.

His offences came to light after a buyer bought his laptop and reported to the police of obscene images found on the device. The man had filmed videos of a number of his sexual offences.

“I’m very remorseful for the wrong I have done, it will haunt me for my entire life. I would like to sincerely apologise to the people I have hurt and I hope they can forgive me,” the man addressed the court in Mandarin, according to a Straits Times report.

In a separate case, a 63-year-old man who had raped his daughter and sexually assaulted her for 13 years was sentenced to 26.5 years in jail on the same day, according to a report by TODAY. The victim was just eight years old when she was first raped by her father in their Housing and Development Board flat.

The man, who cannot be named due to a gag order, continued with his offences even after his daughter pleaded for him to stop. He was later arrested after she told her mother and boyfriend about the extensive incidents of sexual abuse, and reported them to the police.

The Singaporean pleaded guilty to one charge each of statutory rape and aggravated sexual assault by penetration, and two counts of aggravated rape while another 22 similar charges were considered for his sentencing.

In September, a New York jury convicted the disgraced pop star of racketeering and eight counts of sex trafficking.

The 55-year-old R&B singer will spend at least 10 years in prison, with the maximum possible sentence being life.

Prosecutors have said he should spend at least 25 years behind bars.

The singer – known for the hit songs I Believe I Can Fly and Ignition (Remix) – was found to have been the ringleader of a violent and coercive scheme to lure women and children for him to sexually abuse.

The six-week trial heard how he trafficked women between different US states, assisted by managers, security guards and other entourage members, over two decades.

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Prosecutors said he showed a “callous disregard” for his victims and showed no remorse.

“Indeed, the defendant’s decades of crime appear to have been fuelled by narcissism and a belief that his musical talent absolved him of any need to conform his conduct – no matter how predatory, harmful, humiliating or abusive to others – to the strictures of the law,” they said.

The court also heard how Kelly had illegally obtained paperwork to marry singer Aaliyah when she was 15 in 1994, seven years before the singer died in a plane crash.

The certificate, leaked at the time, listed Aaliyah’s age as 18. The marriage was annulled months later.

After several delays, he will be sentenced at the US District Court in New York on Wednesday.

Kelly is separately facing trial in Chicago on child sex images and obstruction charges. He is also due to face sex abuse charges in Illinois and Minnesota.

The 63-year-old was found guilty by an Algerian court of continuing to bank cheques from a public advertising agency for a year after two newspapers which he owned had closed down.

Despite charges of forgery and fraud being dropped Madjer and a co-defendant, named as Brahim M, were jailed and ordered to pay 500,000 dinars ($3,435) to the national publishing and advertising agency (ANEP).

Madjer, who scored to help Porto beat Bayern Munich in the 1987 European Cup final, has denied any wrongdoing and says he will appeal against the ruling.

“All I can tell you is that I had nothing to do with this case. Neither near nor far. I am innocent,” he told the AFP news agency.

As well as the famous back-heeled goal against Bayern Munich, Madjer also scored a crucial goal in a 2-1 victory against West Germany at the 1982 World Cup.

Madjer, who now spends much of his time living in Qatar, later went on to coach Algeria’s national football team three times, but was sacked from his most resent spell in June 2018 after eight months in the job following a string of defeats.

Kenyan actress, Diana Clara Ojenge alias Mishi Dorah was on Thursday, June 2, charged at the Kibera law courts with obtaining Sh152,550 (over GHS 11,000) credit by false pretenses after dining and drinking expensive liquor at a city restaurant.

Ms Ojenge was accused of incurring the bill at Golden Ice Bistro at Nextgen Mall in South C on Mombasa Road in Nairobi on the night of May 26 and the morning of May 27. 

The charge sheet further states, “Ojenge also ordered six bottles of Belaire Luxe 750ml valued at Sh75,000 and seven Hennessy VS 750ml valued at Sh70,000 which she took with a group of friends she was partying with by falsely pretending that she would pay a fact she knew to be false.”

The court heard that she ordered two chicken breasts valued at Sh3,000, one cocktail drink valued at Sh2,000, two bottles of 300ml coke valued at Sh500, a one litre bottle of mineral water valued at Sh400 and three bottles of Redbull energy drink valued at Sh1,650.

Ms Ojenge allegedly claimed that her bank card had a problem and she was unable to pay.

She requested to be escorted to her house to collect some cash but she could still not foot the bill after two of the restaurant’s officials accompanied her to her house.

She later went to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to meet an artist.

The suspect requested the management to give her until Monday May 30, to settle the bill but she did not and instead, stopped picking phone calls from the management.

She was reported at Akila police station and police traced and arrested her.

She denied the charges before principal magistrate Monicah Maroro and pleaded for lenient bail and bond terms.

The case will be mentioned on June 16.

Dada pleaded guilty to escaping from lawful custody and theft and begged for leniency.

The Judge, Mr Sulyman Ola, however, gave the convict an option to pay a fine of N40,000 (GH¢ 749) for the two-count charge and warned him to desist from committing crime.

Mr Ola ordered the convict to pay the N13,200, belonging to his fellow detainee which he stole from police counter.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Chinedu Ogada, told the court that the accused was in detention in the cell at the Efab Estate police station on April 29, in connection with a case of gym equipment, iPhone and car battery theft.

Ogada said a police officer opened the cell and brought out two suspects, and that the accused used the opportunity and smartly moved from the cell to the counter, where he stole the money and escaped from custody.

The prosecutor said he was later tracked down and re-arrested by the police.

Meanwhile, the court, in a separate case, also  sentenced him to another nine months imprisonment for stealing his employer’s gym equipment.

He pleaded guilty to criminal breach of trust and theft and begged the court for leniency.

The judge, Mr Sulyman Ola, gave Dada an option to pay a fine of N25,000 (GH¢ 468) and ordered him to pay N520,000 (GH¢ 9,742) as compensation to the complainant.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Mr Chinedu Ogada, told the court that the complainant, Kenny Umeyi, reported the matter at the Efab police station on April 27, that the accused who was his driver stole his three gym equipment worth N500,000, one iPhone Max 10 valued at N80,000 and one car battery valued at N20,000.

The prosecutor added that during police investigation, the convict made a confessional statement admitting to the crime.

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They were said to have been sentenced on June 18, 2021.

Criminal Investigation Department (CID) boss, COP Isaac Ken Yeboah, disclosed this at a press briefing on Wednesday, June 30, 2021.

This was to highlight the measures the Police Service has implemented to build a strong security system in the country, including updates on major crimes in the country.

COP Ken Yeboah, in his briefing, named the suspect as Omar Sando, Jibu Ali, and Sando Ali, all believed to be of Fulani descent.

He explained that they were arrested on May 11, 2021, in connection with a highway robbery on the Jacobu-Obuasi road in the Ashanti region.

“The suspects were arrested after they engaged the police in a shoot-out which led to the death of one Mohammed, during a highway robbery,” he said.

According to him, they were convicted and charged after they confessed to having a hand in the MP’s murder with the deceased [Mohammed] being the leader of the gang.

“All the convicts are to be arraigned before the court in respect of the robbery and murder of the late Ekow Quansah Hayford. It means that we are now going to charge them and try them for the murder of the MP,” the CID boss stated.

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He noted that the suspects are four out of six persons wanted.

The legislator was shot and killed after his car was attacked on the Nkusukum Mankessim-Abeadze Duadze road in the Central Region.

Eyewitnesses say the suspected armed robbers, numbering about six, shot at the MP’s vehicle when his driver attempted to drive through the robbery operation.

After the car stopped, the driver was shot by the armed robbers to deter others who might try to escape.

The MP is alleged to have confirmed his identity to the robbers when asked who the MP of the constituency was.

He was then shot twice, resulting in his death.

The ex-leader says he is being persecuted in a bid to keep him out of politics but has vowed he would not go into exile.

A prosecutor, speaking on condition of anonymity and the spokesman of the former president’s party, Djibril Ould Bilal, confirmed his detention on Tuesday without citing the reason.

Aziz has twice gone before a magistrate investigating the case since the charges, including money laundering, were brought in March.

The move comes days after the former leader refused to continue reporting to police after being put under house arrest.

Aziz ruled the conservative West African state from 2008 to mid-2019, when he was succeeded by his former right-hand man and ex-defence minister Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani.

Oil revenue probe

Aziz joined a small opposition party, Ribat National, in April in an attempt to salvage his political career after being expelled from the ruling Union for the Republic party, which he founded.

The 64-year-old former general, who came to power in a coup, already had to report to police three times a week and to seek approval before leaving the capital.

The charges followed a year-long probe initiated by Parliament into the handling of oil revenue, the sale of state property, the winding up of a publicly owned food supply company, and the activities of a Chinese fishing firm.

A state prosecutor involved with the investigation in March said cash and assets worth the equivalent of about 96 million euros ($115m) had been seized.

The three convicts, Joseph Donkor, 40, Joseph Paul, 27, and Charles Ewusi, 27, were each jailed 15years on two counts of mining without license and conspiracy to commit crime.

In addition, they were fined ¢240,000.00 each.

The convicts were caught in the act of illegally prospecting for gold in a forest reserve on February 16 during an operation by a team from the Regional Forestry Commission.

Illegal miners in court

The determination of the case is the first sentence of many illegal mining cases pending before the courts in the Western Region, where those arrested are currently helping the police in their investigation.

These follow the declaration of forest reserves and water bodies as prohibited areas or red-lines that must not be crossed.

The court said their failure to pay the fine would result in each of them serving additional two-weeks to serve as a deterrent to other like-minded people engaged in illegal mining activities.

Punishment for illegal mining

In passing the judgment at the Circuit Court B, the presiding judge, Mrs Abigail Animah Asare, reminded other like-minded persons that the mining act had been reviewed and the punishments were very punitive.

She said the three were handed the least punishment under the act owing to the fact they were first time offenders and that it was rather unfortunate that the convicts had to suffer it when the real financiers were out there.

In the facts put before the court, the Police Prosecutor, Sgt. Robert Yawson, told the court that on February 16, 2021, the Takoradi District Forest Services Division of the Forestry Commission reported illegal mining activities in the reserve.

The suspects, he said, were a farmer and two unemployed, all residents at Alabankata, near Cape Three Points, in the Ahanta West District in the Western Region.

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Unlawful act

Due to the level of degradation, the commission’s forest guard and the national rapid response team deployed intercepted the illegal miners in the reserve busily prospecting for gold.

Upon seeing the task force the group of miners took to their heels but the three were arrested and photographed in the act for evidential purpose.

They were subsequently handed over to the Regional Police Command for investigation where they admitted to the offence in their respective caution statement to the police.

According to the prosecutor, further investigations revealed that the three were mining without license contrary to Section 99 (2) (a) of the Minerals and Mining Act of 2006 (Act 703) as Amended by the Minerals and Mining Act of 2019 Act 995.

Background

The activities of illegal mining left vast swathes of forest reserves and farms, as well as some rivers in the Western and Eastern regions, destroyed.

The deployment of troops resulted in the arrest of many of the illegal miners with cases currently in court.

Deep in the heart of the two regions, where accessibility to the thick forests is virtually impossible, illegal miners have managed to penetrate with huge machines to cause destruction of unimaginable proportions.

To combat the situation, last May, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, high-ranking officials from the Operation Halt Team, as well as the media, embarked on an aerial tour of the areas devastated by illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, and it was a sorry sight.

The vast areas touched by the miners were nothing but scenes of sprawling land and water bodies that had been polluted by illegal mining, which left the scenes of destruction and degradation visible for miles.

Although mineral wealth constitutes a valuable asset that can propel national growth and spur development in the mining communities, the havoc that the Daily Graphic witnessed from the air showed that the mining communities and the nation had become poorer.

The illegal activities have left chains of uncovered abandoned pits filled with muddy water in many areas, posing grave danger to residents of those areas.

Following her guilty plea to three charges, Poloo, born Rosemond Brown, was handed a 90 days sentence by the trial court.

The court presided over by Her Honour Christina Cann deferred her sentencing to today, April 16, 2021, for Poloo to undergo a pregnancy test to ensure she was not pregnant before her sentencing is passed.

Her results came out negative, meaning she is fit to serve her imprisonment.

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The controversial actress was, in the course of the trial, admitted to bail in the sum of ¢100,000 with four sureties two to be justified with landed property worth ¢100,000.

Days before her sentencing, a #FreeAkuapemPoloo advocacy made waves on social media, with others pleading with the court to temper justice with mercy.

Facts

The facts as presented by Chief Inspector Agatha Asantewa were that the complainant, Mr Bright K Appiah, is the Director of Child Right’s International Ghana.

On June 30, 2020, the prosecutor said the actress celebrated her son’s (name withheld) seventh birthday and took a nude photograph together with her son half-naked and posted same on her Instagram page which went viral on social media.

According to Chief Inspector Asantewa, “the conduct or behaviour of the accused undermines the privacy or likely to detract the dignity of the son.”

Complaint

The complainant, according to Chief Inspector Asantewa petitioned Director-General/CID and the matter was referred to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU).

Following the complaint, Akuapem Poloo was arrested and on her caution statement to the Police, she admitted posting the nude picture together with her son unintentionally.

According to the prosecutor, the write-up text on her post read: “I’m naked in front of you because this is how naked I was giving birth to you, so in case you find me lying somewhere, don’t pass by but see me as your mom who brought you to life,” indicated that Akuapem Poloo deliberately posted the nude picture together with her son.

The man, Cephas Agbodo, was jailed for stealing GH¢159,300 from the coffers of his former employer, the Buuwulonso One Stop Rural Bank at Damongo in the Savannah Region.

Cephas who had moved on to Borimanga Rural Bank at Savelugu in the Northern Region hacked into the system of his former employer and succeeded in transferring the amount into two separate accounts.

Agbodo who was charged with 12 counts of stealing and money laundering, was found guilty on the first count of stealing after more than two years of trial that began in 2019.

He was, however, acquitted and discharged on counts two to 12 by the court, presided over by Mr Justice Richard Kogyapwah, who is also the Supervising High Court Judge for the Northern Region.

The court ordered that GH¢30,818 that was found in a safe during a search in Mr Agbodo’s room by the police during his arrest and the monies he transferred from the accounts of his former employer into the two accounts be returned to the account of his former employer.

The court further directed that the items of Mr Agbodo — which included trips of sand, Samsung and Apple mobile phones, microwave, and a sound system — that were confiscated during his arrest should be given back to him because the prosecution could not prove that he bought those items with the money he stole from the bank.

Mitigation of sentence

Mr Kogyapwah delivered the eight-year prison sentence with hard labour after listening to an appeal for the mitigation of sentence by the counsel of the convict, Mr Sylvester Isang, and an objection by the prosecution, represented by the Chief State Attorney for the Northern Region, Mr Salia Abdul-Quddus.

In passing judgment, Mr Kogyapwah said the court imposed an exemplary custodial sentence on Mr Agbodo to serve as a deterrent to other young men who might want to use that path to enrich themselves, adding that the court also took judicial notice of the upsurge of cyber crimes to pass the judgment.

He stated that the convict had acquired a skill but instead of applying it for the good of the society and for his benefit, decided to use it to perpetrate the offence.

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Facts

The facts as presented in court by Mr Abdul-Quddus were that the complainant was the manager of the ARB Apex Bank in Tamale, while Mr Agbodo was a system administrator at the Borimanga Rural Bank at Savelugu, and was once an employee of Buuwulonso One Stop Rural Bank that was declared distressed, and its operations suspended and all the staff sent home.

Following the suspension of the operations of his former employer, Mr Agbodo got appointment as a  system administrator at Borimanga Rural Bank at Savelugu.

Upon assuming duty, however, he hacked into the accounts of his former employer and managed to transfer GH¢2,000 and GH¢600 respectively into his accounts at Borimanga Rural Bank.

The prosecution said having satisfied himself that he could electronically transfer money from the accounts of his former employer, he asked his younger brother, one Moses Agbodo, to open an account at the Bonzali Rural Bank agency at Lamashegu in Tamale for the purpose of receiving money transfer from a friend to undertake a project.

When Moses Agbodo went to Bonzali Rural Bank to open the accounts, using the identification card of one Alhassan Abubakar Issahak, he was denied the service.

Transfers

Mr Agbodo was said to have secured the help of one Emmanuel Denteh to open another account at the Tamale branch of the Bonzali Rural Bank, and transfered various sums of money amounting to GH¢159,300 into the two accounts that were withdrawn by Moses and Issahak as and when the convict effected the transfers.

The prosecution said the complainant, who was aware of the suspension of operations of the Buuwulonso One Stop Rural Bank, became suspicious when he discovered that huge sums of money were being transferred from the accounts of the distressed bank into accounts at Bonzali Rural Bank, and alerted the managers of the two receiving banks that the transactions were fraudulent.

He said on May 15, 2019, GH¢10,000 was transferred into the account of Alhassan Abubakar Issahak, and when he, in the company of Moses Agbodo, went to the bank to withdraw the money, they were arrested by the police who had been alerted by the bank manager.

The prosecution said they were taken to the police station and during investigations into the matter the convict was arrested.

A search conducted in the room of the convict yielded an amount of GH¢30,818 and same was retained as exhibit.

Mr Agbodo also admitted during interrogation that he moulded 2,106 pieces of cement blocks on a piece of land at Mile 5 in Tamale with part of the money he dishonestly appropriated from Buuwulonso One Stop Rural Bank.

The court heard that “through subterfuge and impersonation, Obinwanne Okeke engaged in a multi-year global business email and computer hacking scheme that caused a staggering $11 million in losses to his victims,” Raj Parekh, acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement Tuesday after the sentencing.

British company Unatrac Holding Limited — the export sales office for industrial machinery company Caterpillar — was the victim of an online heist perpetrated by Mr Okeke and his team, who had obtained their login details through phishing emails, the justice department said.

“In April 2018, Unatrac executive fell prey to a phishing email that allowed conspirators to capture login credentials,” according to the statement.

“The conspirators sent fraudulent wire transfer requests and attached fake invoices. Okeke participated in the effort to victimise Unatrac through fraudulent wire transfers totaling nearly $11 million, which was transferred overseas,” the statement added.

Mr Okeke, who was hailed as a promising entrepreneur and appeared on the Forbes magazine’s ’30 under 30 list,’ had earlier pleaded guilty to the charge in June 2020, after he was arrested during a visit to the US.

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Mr Okeke, who operated a chain of companies under parent firm Invictus Group — based in Nigeria — was found to have committed series of wire frauds between 2015 and 2019 along with others.

“The conspirators obtained and compiled the credentials of hundreds of victims, including victims in the Eastern District of Virginia,” the US justice department said.

“The FBI will not allow cyber criminals free reign in the digital world to prey on U.S. companies,” Brian Dugan, the FBI’s Special Agent in Charge of Norfolk Field Office said after the sentencing.

Mr Okeke was arrested by the FBI at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, in August 2019, just before he got on a flight to Nigeria during a visit to the US.

His sentencing was initially scheduled for October 22, 2020, but was deferred until February 16, 2021.

In June 2016, Mr Okeke, who was 28 at the time, was recognised by Forbes among Africa’s Most Promising Entrepreneurs under 30 and was praised for his strides in construction, agriculture, oil and gas, telecoms and real estate.

The Forbes article stated that he was the 17th child in a polygamous home of four wives, and was born into an impoverished background.

According to Forbes, Mr Okeke named his company Invictus “after one of Nelson Mandela’s favourite poems by William Ernest Henley, about the undefeated and unconquerable soul of a hard worker, from an impoverished background, who will not give up.”

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According to ASP Afrifa, the accused introduced himself to one Reverend Joshua, in charge of Global Reform Church, in Adenta as someone who could “double” money for people.

He further revealed that Reverend Joshua later introduced the accused to another congregation at his local branch in Zenu within the Ashaiman municipality.

ASP Afrifa again told the court that the accused told the complainants at different locations that he had a special soap which when used after six weeks, their money in their individual bank accounts would multiply.

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The complainants which included Ms. Pharida Gifty Doku, gave him 11,320.00, Ms.Faustina Doku gave him 1,700, Mr. Kojo Benjamin gave him 4, 680.00, Madam Agatha Maame Appiah gave him 2,000.00 among other three who gave out 1,060.00, 980.00 and 800.00 Ghana Cedis, in that order, the prosecutor said.

The prosecutor further explained that, the complainants took the special soap and used as instructed but their money did not increase even after two months.

The accused person went into hiding until he was arrested early this month.

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The accused person Isaac Kofi pleaded guilty and vowed not to engage himself in such acts again.

The Ashaiman circuit court presided over by Mr. Gabriel Mate-Teye noted that defrauding by false pretence was an offence contrary to section 131 of the criminal offences act 29(1960).

He sentenced the accused to 10 years in jail on all five counts saying it will run concurrently.

Source: GNA

Police report indicate three out of five suspects were arrested at a Savelugu in the Northern region by a police patrol team on Thursday morning around 11:00 am upon a tip off of transportation of huge quantity of substance suspected to be weed on from Gambaga in the North East region to Tamale.

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The suspects identified as Fatawu Tiniya, 29, Masahudu Iddrisu, 20, and Zaku Mahama, 23 were jailed 19 years each for possessing narcotic substances without authority after they pleaded guilty to the offence.

The presiding judge also confiscated five motorbikes which the convicts used to convey the Indian hemp to the state.

Meanwhile, the police is undergoing investigations in the region to arrest the two suspects currently on the run.

Source: Adomonline.com|Adom News|Illiasu Abdul Rauf

Kwame first met his estranged wife in 2014 when he was playing in the southern Swedish city of Mjölby. They married the following year.

A few months after the wedding, he signed a transfer to the town of Gävle, located about 300 kilometres away from Mjölby. Bonsu’s wife had wanted him to stay to continue his studies and this caused serious rift in their marriage.

According to court documents, he will also have to pay 122,600 kronor ($14,000) in compensation to his wife, who is a Swedish national. His lawyer has appealed the sentence.

A Swedish court on Friday sentenced a Ghanaian football player in Sweden’s second division to two years in prison for raping and beating his wife.

After serving his sentence, 22-year-old Kwame Bonsu, who played for the Gefle IF club, will be expelled from the Scandinavian country where he has lived in since 2013, the Gavle District Court said.

Gefle on Friday said Bonsu was dismissed from the team with immediate effect.

he will also have to pay 245,000 kronor (at least 25,000 euros approximately) in compensation to his wife, who is a Swedish national.

He first met her in 2014 when he was playing in the southern Swedish city of Mjolby. They married the following year.

A few months after the wedding he signed a transfer to the town of Gavle, located about 300 kilometres (190 miles) away from Mjolby.

Bonsu’s wife had wanted him to stay to continue his studies.

The victim said the rape and beatings took place in the couple’s apartment during an evening in November 2015 when he had refused to let her out.

Bonsu repeatedly denied the charges, but testimony from his wife’s relatives led the court to believe the victim’s version of events.

The convicts, Christian Obeng, a businessman, and Latif Apulala, a driver, were said to have created a fake Facebook account in the name of the former COCOBOD boss and used it to dupe people under the pretext of securing jobs for them at the COCOBOD.

The Accra Circuit Court last Friday sentenced them after they were found guilty, reports Graphic Online’s court reporter, Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson.

They had pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit crime while Obeng pleaded not guilty to a separate charge of impersonation, but the court held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt to ascertain their guilt.

Obeng, the mastermind behind the scheme, was slapped with a five-year jail term, while Apulala, the one tasked to be collecting money from the victims, was jailed for two years.

Both of them were also ordered by the court, which was presided over by Mrs Ruby Naa Adjeley Quaison to sign a bond to be of good behaviour or in default serve another year in prison.

Facebook account

The prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr Stephen Kwame Adjei, told the court that on February 26, 2016, someone reported to the police that he had seen a Facebook account with the username “Stephen K. Opuni” with a picture of Dr Opuni.

But when Dr Opuni was contacted, he denied having any such account or ever signing up for Facebook.

According to the prosecutor, Obeng, through a conversation on Facebook, promised to secure a job for the informant at COCOBOD if he paid GH¢4,000. The police then told the informant to feign interest in the deal.

“Obeng told him to meet his messenger at Achimota with his application letter and an initial payment of GH¢3,500 to facilitate the process. The informant went to the meeting place and found Apulala, who was immediately arrested,” he said.

Mr Adjei stated that Apulala was made to call Obeng to inform him that he had gone for the money. Obeng subsequently told Apulala he would meet him at home for the money.

“Obeng showed up four hours later and he was arrested,” he added.

The accused, Robert Mensah, a mason pleaded guilty to the charge but said he only rubbed his male organ on the victim’s vagina.

Adom News’ Kofi Adjei who was in court reported that, the accused from Gomoa in the Central region lured the victim into his room and forcibly had sexual intercourse with her.

But luck eluded him when he was caught red-handed by residents in the area and subjected to severe beatings.

Chief Inspector Danso who was the prosecutor from the Kasoa Divisional Police Command told the court residents handed the suspect over to the Awuku Breku police for prosecution.

The judge, Justice Ebenezer Darko, passing sentence, said the punishment imposed on him could serve as a deterrent to men who took advantage of minors, women or people living with disability to abuse them sexually.

Listen to full report

Eric Duah was also fined GH¢2,400 or in default serve eight months imprisonment when he appeared before the court, presided over by Mr. Isaac Addo.

Presenting the facts of the case, Sergeant Lois Konadu said the complainant, Mohammed Assad, is a businessman and manager of Soronko (2006) Limited – Ghana, dealers in brand new lorry tyres.

According to Sergeant Konadu in 2011, Duah approached Assad and bought tyres to sell and pay at a later  date.

She said Duah, after selling the tyres, made some cash  payment and issued three cheques  in addition for  Assad to cash as part payment  of  the GH¢6,500  he owed Assad.

Sergeant Konadu said all the cheques Duah issued to Assad were dishonoured when they were presented at the bank.

The prosecutor said Assad called and informed Duah of the dishonoured cheques but he went into hiding and disconnected all his contact numbers known to Assad and changed his place of business.

However, on February 25, 2017 at about 10:00am, Assad was on his way to work when he met Duah on the George Bush highway in Accra.

The prosecutor said Assad reported the case to the police and Duah was arrested and sent to the Tesano police station for investigation.

According to her, Duah admitted the offence and refunded GH¢1,000.

The Juaso Circuit Court, presided over by Mr. Fredrick Tetteh, handed down the punishment to Francis Darko after he pleaded guilty to the offence.

Police Detective Inspector Birinkorang Peasah said the victim, aged 14, has been living with the father at Juaso.
He said on February 10, this year, the man noticed some changes in the daughter, which heightened his suspicion that, she was carrying a pregnancy.

He therefore took her to the Juaso District Hospital where it was confirmed that she was indeed 25 weeks pregnant.
Asked about who was responsible, the young girl, mentioned Darko and a formal report was made to the police.

The convict, in his caution statement, confessed to the crime and gave the excuse that she was the girlfriend.

The five-judge panel said Gov. Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama was “convincingly proven guilty of blasphemy” and ordered his arrest. However, Ahok immediately announced he would appeal the guilty verdict and sentence.

The lead judge said the trial was a purely criminal one and the court disagreed that there were political aspects to the case.

The blasphemy accusation against Ahok was a decisive factor in his defeat in last month’s election for Jakarta governor.
Hard-line Islamic groups said it would be a sin for Muslims to vote for a non-Muslim.

The two-year prison sentence was a surprise outcome.
Prosecutors had recommended a two-year suspended prison sentence.

A 34- year old accomplice is also in police grips over the computers belonging to the school.

They are 20 year old Yussif Zakaria, Kingsley Boamah, who is 19 and Kwaku Gariba an auto-mechanic.

School authorities reported the theft of the laptops which had gone missing from the school’s computer laboratory on April 27, 2017 to the Mankraso police. The laboratory is now left with twenty-nine computers.

Police say a student of the school spotted the two final year students breaking into the laboratory and quickly alerted school authorities.

The two suspects however managed to outwit authorities and took the gadgets away.

Police Chief Inspector Kofi Agyei Sabeng told the Mankranso Circuit Court the students stole keys to the laboratory before embarking on the crime.

According to police, the two later collaborated with Kumasi-based Gariba, an auto-mechanic, to sell the computers for them.

The three, upon arrest, admitted the offence for which they were charged and arraigned before court.

Meanwhile, police have been able to retrieve five of the laptop computers.

Mark Sands, 51, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, threatened to go to the home of his local Conservative MP, Caroline Ansell, and stab her “to death”.

He admitted making the threats, at a hearing at Hastings Magistrates’ Court last month.

The factory worker, of Upperton Gardens, was sentenced at Brighton Magistrates’ Court.

The court heard Sands had been angry at proposed disability cuts last November and posted on his Facebook page: “If you vote to take £30 off my money, I will personally come round to your house… and stab you to death.”

Magistrates were told he posted additional messages including “End poverty, kill a Tory now” and, under the political views section of his profile, had written “Kill your local MP”.

An image of murdered Labour MP Jo Cox also featured on his page alongside the words “sawn-off 2.2”.

He was charged after police said he had made “a credible threat”.

In a victim impact statement read in court, Ms Ansell said the threats were “chilling” and led her to close her personal Facebook account.

Her statement said: “It felt like a brush with something sinister.”

Madeleine Priestley, defending Sands, said: “He has, for some time, been prescribed anti-depressants.

“He suffers from anxiety and physically he suffers, including from fibromyalgia.”

Speaking to the BBC, Ms Ansell said: “I remember where I was when I picked up the call from my local police to say that they had seen a credible threat against my life and that a local man had been arrested and was in custody.

“I was at home – it was a Sunday morning – and I wasn’t expecting that.”

Ms Ansell said she had become accustomed to “low level abuse” as an MP, “but this did feel tangibly different”.

An Accra Circuit Court on Friday handed a ten-year jail term each to two persons charged with possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority.

Benjamin Aryeh, a refrigerator mechanic and one Joyce Obiri were convicted for possessing 23 parcels of dried leaves suspected to be a narcotic drug (Indian Hemp).

They pleaded not guilty to the charges but were convicted after trial by the court presided over by Mr Aboagye Tandoh and sentenced them to 10 years imprisonment each in hard labour.

In sentencing, the court said it took into consideration the number of months spent in custody and their plea for mitigation.

Earlier the prosecution, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Patience Mario told the court that the Kwabenya Police received information about the activities of some drug peddlers at Haatso.

She said the police mounted surveillance on them and on October 23, 2015, at about 0700 hours, the convicts were arrested with 23 parcels of dried leaves suspected to be narcotic drug concealed in a travelling bag.

The prosecution said on interrogation, the two claimed ownership of the substance and mentioned one Agbeko of Kpalime in Togo as the person who sent it to them but could not lead the police to the said sender.