Thief On The Run Lands In Police Barracks

A 26-year-old man, Murtala Mohammed, who scaled the wall into the house of his neighbour, stole a water pump and started running away from the crime scene when an alarm was raised by a neighbour, unknowingly headed towards a nearby police barracks where he was arrested.

When he was put before the Adenta Circuit Court presided over by Her Honour (H/H), Ms Sedinam Awo Balokah, Mohammed pleaded guilty but said he was drunk and did not know what he was doing and pleaded for forgiveness.

The judge said Mohammed’s defense of being drunk was not an excuse to commit the crime.

She added that did not also grant him immunity under the law from facing the consequences of his actions.

Mohammed was therefore convicted on his own plea and sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour.

The convict had been accused of climbing the complainant, Ms Rebecca Agyapong‘s fence wall into her home to commit the crime by cutting water pipes and stealing the water pump which he threw over the wall.

According to the prosecutor, C/Insp Lanyo, on February 28, 2023, at about 10 a.m., a neighbour of Ms Agyapong, who was passing by the complainant’s house, saw an object thrown over the wall of the house.

The prosecutor said the neighbour then took a closer look at the object which had landed at the back of the house and realised it was a water pressure pump machine.

He said Mohammed was then seen scaling the complainant’s wall and landing close to where the pressure pump had fallen.

The neighbour then raised an alarm which prompted Mohammed to run.

According to C/Insp Lanyo, Mohammed unknowingly ran towards a nearby police barracks and was arrested and brought back to the crime scene where he was identified by the witness/neighbour.

Investigations showed that Mohammed, with the intention to steal the said pressure pump valued at GH¢2,950, had entered the complainant’s house while she was away. To achieve this, he cut the pipes that connected water from her poly tank to her rooms, the prosecutor said.

He added that after investigations, Mohammed was charged with three counts, thus unlawful entry into the complainant’s house, causing damage and stealing.

After the case had been heard, H/H Balokah sentenced Mohammed to two years in prison on count one (unlawful entry), one year on count two (causing damage) and three years on count three (stealing) which should run concurrently, meaning the highest number of the sentence should be served, thus three years.