Source: newsthemegh.com
A 35-year-old bricklayer was given a three-month prison sentence by the Adentan Magistrates Court in the Greater Accra Region for stealing iron rods worth GH¢23.000.
Etornam Kojo Biekro asked the court to give him time to pay the cost of iron rods after he entered a guilty plea to one count of theft.
But when he served his jail sentence, the court, presided over by Ms. Nancy Adadey, sentenced him and made him pay for the iron rods.
The prosecutor, Chief Inspector Ebenezer Addo, informed the court that the Biekro is a mason who lives in Ablor-Adjei, Accra, and that the complainant, Stephen Senayo, is an accountant who resides in Kasoa, in the Central Region.
The complainant purchased iron rods for GH¢23,000 in November 2022 for his construction project at Ablor-Adjei, the court was informed.
According to Chief Inspector Addo, the complainant stored the goods for safekeeping in the partially constructed building, where Biekro, an employee, was in charge.
The complainant told the court that he discovered all of the iron rods were stolen when he went to the construction site without Biekro.
Chief Inspector Addo said the court that during Biekro’s questioning on the iron rods, he claimed to have utilized them for a project for a different client and had made a refund promise but had broken it.
He claimed that after Adadey reported the incident to the Akporman Police Post, Biekro was taken into custody.
The prosecution informed the court that although the accused had acknowledged the crime in his caution statement, he had not succeeded in getting the complainant to grant him permission to return the iron rods that had been taken.
The accused was freed on police investigation bail based on his plea, the court heard, but he was re-arrested on July 31 after failing to deliver the iron rods by the scheduled date.