An Accra circuit court has acquitted and discharged Samuel Plange, also known as (aka) Tuga, unemployed, and Issah Alhassan, a butcher, after their counsel had filed a submission of no case in a robbery case.
The two were accused of robbing three occupants of a house in Akporman in the Greater Accra Region.
The court presided by Mrs Afia Owusua Appiah, held that the prosecution woefully failed to prove the charges levelled against the accused persons.
It said the prosecution failed to prove a prema facie case against the accused and the complainants failed to turn up in court to testify because they had left the jurisdiction.
The court, however, cautioned Alhassan to amend his ways if he was in a way hooked up to the acts of robbery.
“Go and sin no more,” the court declared.
Counsel contended that the prosecution could not link the accused persons to the said robbery, which took place on December 12, 2018.
Prosecuting, Chief Inspector William K. Boateng, said the complainants were Omoregie Paul, the first complainant, Dare Ibitolu, second complainant, both unemployed, and Mathew Idowu, a student and the third complainant.
He said Plange resided at Abokobi-Boi and Alhassan at Akporman. On December 12, 2018, prosecution said at about 2300 hours, the complainants were in their sitting room when the accused and three other accomplices, including Mike Property, now at large, entered their room.
Each of the accused was armed with machetes and wearing masks, ordered the complainants to lie down, and Ibitolu, the second complainant, resisted and accused beat him.
Mr Boateng said the accused and their accomplices robbed Paul, the first complainant, of his Dell laptop computer, HP laptop computer, a Nokia phone two, 32 inched NASCO television sets, one GOTV decoder, one PS computer game, and three pairs of jeans among other things.
Chief Insp Boateng said they also robbed Ibitulo of two computers, an I-Phone and a one Techno phone.
He said the accused parked all their booties in two travelling bags after they locked the complainants in a bathroom and left them to their fate.
Prosecution said the complainants, however, managed to get out of the bathroom and reported the incident to the police.
During the robbery, Ibitulo recognised the voice and stature of Alhassan as a butcher at Abokobi, and some of the stolen items were found in Plange and Mike Property’s room.