The Gbetsile Circuit Court has sentenced four robbers, Richard Dzikum, Prosper Ahiadorme, Zorh Believe, and Frank Galley, to 16 years of imprisonment each for engaging in robbery.

The court, presided over by Ms. Eleanor Kakra Banes Botchway, sentenced them after a full trial on two counts of conspiracy to commit a crime and robbery. The four, aged between 25 and 40, were sentenced to 10 years and 16 years, respectively, for counts one and two, which are to run concurrently.

Inspector Maxwell Ayeh, prosecuting, told the court that the complainant, David Liu, is a Chinese national and a sales manager of HDS Quarry Company Limited, Shai-Hills.

Inspector Ayeh stated that on December 19, 2020, at about 19:30 hours, the accused persons, together with four other accomplices now at large, contacted one another on the phone, organized and armed themselves with guns and sticks, covered their faces with pieces of clothing, and met in the bush about 500 meters from HDS Quarry.

The court heard that they stormed the quarry’s yard and took hostage Mr. Brown Amponsah, Ms. Cassandra Amponsah, and Li Cai, respectively, the security man, cook, and cashier of the company.

At gunpoint, the accused persons marched the cashier to the sales officer’s office and asked him where the money was kept.

The cashier pointed to a desk drawer in the office, and they removed an amount of Gh₵55,000.00 from it, some sales documents, a key to the sales office, one USB drive, and four assorted mobile phones, all valued at Gh₵2,715.00, before marching him to the manager’s office.

The facts stated that the accused persons, before bolting, also took an amount of Gh₵110,000.00 from a steel safe in the manager’s office, which they ordered the cashier to open.

On December 8, 2023, at about 20:00 hours, information was received from the Police Intelligence Department Headquarters, Accra, that the suspects involved in the robbery at HDS in 2020 had been apprehended.

It added that the accused persons were brought to Afienya Police Station on December 9, 2023, for further investigation. They admitted to having robbed the HDS Quarry with four accomplices, including one Seidu Abubakari, who is currently on remand in Ho prisons on the charge of robbery and murder.

The facts added that investigations revealed that after the robbery, the accused persons shared the booty, and each of them received Gh₵15,000.