Mpraeso, July 11, GNA - The Mpraeso Circuit Court on Tuesday sentenced Bismark Bonti, a 54-year-old mason to three years' imprisonment with hard labour for deceiving a public officer.
Police Chief Inspector Alex Gyamera Acheampong, prosecuting, told the court, presided over by Mr Kwabena Assuman-Adu, that on July 8, Bonti's junior brother gave him 777,000 cedis at Akyem Tafo to be sent to his wife at Asankragua in the Western Region.
He said as early as 0400 hours on the following day the convict boarded a bus to deliver the money.
The prosecutor said when the bus got to Kawakawa, Bonti got off the vehicle and went to the central police station to report that three armed men had attacked their vehicle with AK 47 assault riffle at Pra river junction.
He said Bonti claimed that he and the other passengers were robbed of all their money including the 777,000 cedis given to him and other valuable items.
The prosecutor said the police visited the alleged scene but did not see any sign of violent or struggle and also when people around the area were interviewed they claimed not to be aware of such an incident. The court heard that the police later conducted a search on the convict and found 798,400 cedis on him.
He said during further interrogation, Bonti confessed that he made a false robbery report to the police in order to make use of the money. Passing judgement, the Presiding judge said the behaviour of the accused should not be entertained in society due to the high rate of armed robbery cases in the country.