Kade, Dec. 21, GNA-Eric Kwasi Torsey, 27, a labourer, who stole 76 empty cocoa sacks belonging to his employers, was on Monday convicted on his own plea of guilty to 18 months imprisonment in hard labour by the Kade District Magistrate's Court.

Police Inspector Francis Asare-Cobbina, prosecuting, told the court that Torsey worked as a labourer at the Subi depot of Akuafo Adamfo, a private cocoa purchasing company.

He said on December 17, the purchasing clerk at the depot left the place to attend to the call of nature and Torsey took advantage of his absence to steal 50 empty sacks, which he deposited in the nearby bush. The prosecutor said when Torsey returned to find the purchasing clerk still not at post he stole another 26 sacks but before he could get away with that, he was arrested by a witness who been watching and handed him over to the district officer of the purchasing company. The district officer in turn handed him over to the police and when he was interrogated, he admitted stealing the sacks.

The prosecutor said last year the company lost 3,000 empty sacks to thieves and asked that Torsey should be given a severe sentence The Magistrate, Mr. Abdul Majid Iliasu, in sentencing Torsey noted that his criminal acts created liability for others. If he had succeeded in carrying the sacks away, officials at the depot would have been held for the loss. Mr. Iliasu said it was clear that it was not the first time Torsey had engaged in that act.