Sekondi, April 14, GNA - A Sekondi District Magistrate's Court on Thursday sentenced Charles Hazel, a mechanic in Sekondi, to 48 months imprisonment in hard labour for stealing a Motorola Mobile Phone and a quantity of skin creams.

In the dock with him was Elizabeth Yankson, a petty trader at Essikado, charged with dishonestly receiving five assorted skin creams from Hazel. She was granted five million cedis bail with one surety to re-appear on May 4, this year.

Both Hazel and Yankson pleaded not guilty. Prosecuting, Police Inspector Andam Okyere, said on December 22 last year, the complainant, who is a beautician and a petty trader of skin creams at Essikado, went to Accra and bought a quantity of assorted skin creams.

He said on the following day, she locked the creams in her room and went to Takoradi but on her return, she detected that somebody had broken into her room through the window and stolen some of the assorted screams valued at 1.5 million cedis and a Motorola Mobile Phone valued at 700,000 cedis.

Inspector Okyere said all efforts to find the missing items did not yield positive results until March 10, this year, when she went to one of her customers to collect a debt and found some of the missing items in her possession.

Inspector Okyere said, when questioned, the customer said Yankson sold them to her.

He said the complainant made a report to the Police and Yankson led the Police to Sekondi Central Prison where Hazel was serving a six-month prison sentence for a similar offence. Inspector Okyere said after investigations, the accused persons were charged with the offences.