A 34-YEAR-OLD
PETTY TRADER, Sharifatu Yakubu, a resident of Techiman Tanoso in the
Brong Ahafo Region, has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in hard
labour for stealing, contrary to section 93 of Act 29/60 of the
Criminal Code.
Sharifatu, who pleaded guilty to stealing a five-year-old school girl,
was convicted and sentenced by a Kumasi Circuit Court presided over by
Mrs. Rita Agyeman-Budu.
Prosecuting,
Chief Inspector P. Y. Bebli told the court that on April 21, 2012,
around 8am, one of the complainants, Victoria Tawiah, gave the victim
and her siblings money to buy food in front of their house while she
left for her usual hawking.
According to Chief Inspector Bebli, Victoria returned in the evening to
her house at Akwatia Line, a suburb of Kumasi, only to realize the
victim was missing.
Victoria then
informed her husband, who resides at Bantama, a suburb of Kumasi, about
the incident and later reported the case to the Zongo Police Station.
The police gave the complainants extracts to a local radio station so an
announcement would be made about the missing child.
Later, the parents of the victim were informed that a local radio
station in Kumasi had announced that the missing child had been found at
Techiman Tanoso where they proceeded for the child.
He said
Sharifatu was arrested and later arraigned.
The complainant told DAILY GUIDE after the court ruling that Sharifatu
took the victim from their vicinity sent her to Techiman Tanoso.
He narrated that the convict took the girl to her room and tried to make
some tribal marks on her cheeks.
He said after making a mark on one cheek, Sharifatu turned her attention
to the other with the sharp implement but the girl made a sudden
movement which resulted in a deep cut on the cheek with blood oozing
out.
The little girl
then ran out of the room in an attempt to escape.
The complainant said luck eluded Sharifatu as residents in the area
became suspicious when she tried to recapture the girl. She was arrested
and sent to the Techiman Tanoso Police Station.
He said at the police station, the five-year-old girl refuted every
information that the convict gave to the police about her background and
even went further to give more information of herself including her
school, parents’ name and residence that the convict had no idea of.
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