The Tema Circuit Court ‘B’ has sentenced a 27-year-old scrap dealer and herbal medicine peddler, Abdulai Sanusi, to three years imprisonment in hard labour for stabbing a security guard with a pair of scissors.

The court presided over by Klorkor Okai-Mills, handed Sanusi, a Nigerien, the sentence after pleading guilty to the charge of causing harm to the victim Vincent Akpotaka on his left rib and back.

Presenting the facts of the case, the prosecutor Inspector Jacob Kuubal, said the victim was a security guard at Sentuo Oil Refinery in the Tema Industrial Area, who in January 2024, bought some of Sanusi’s medicine valued at Gh₵ 50.00 on credit, promising to pay later.

He said on February 12, 2024, at about 18:30 hours, the convict went to the victim at his abode on the premises of his workplace and demanded his money; however, the complainant explained to him that he did not have cash on him as his money was on his mobile money wallet.

He said the victim claimed it would be difficult to withdraw cash because the mobile money agents in the area had already closed.

The victim therefore instructed the convict to come back in the morning for his money, but it did not go down well with him, leading to an exchange of words between the two, which developed into a scuffle during which Sanusi removed the scissors he had concealed and stabbed the complainant under his left rib and his back, resulting in deep-cut wounds.

The prosecutor added that Sanusi took to his heels after he saw the victim bleeding profusely from the deep-cut wounds he inflicted on him, but he was pursued by witnesses, arrested and handed over to the Lube Oil Police Station, where he was cautioned.

He said a police medical report was issued to the complainant to attend any government hospital for treatment, indicating that on February 18, 2024, at about 20:00 hours, surgery was conducted on him at the Tema General Hospital, where he was receiving treatment.

He said the police had earlier visited the victim at the hospital and interacted with Dr. Iddi Sumaili on February 14, 2024, at about 09:15 hours, who explained that the omentum tissue under the skin of the stomach of the complainant was out and visible in the wound, and needed surgery to check if any of his internal organs were damaged.

Inspector Kuubal said the doctor said during the surgery it was detected that the victim sustained internal bleeding between the abdominal and pelvic cavities (hemoperitoneum), while his stomach lining was perforated.

He added that the victim, who was detained at the social welfare department of the hospital for his inability to pay his medical bills, had since been discharged after some benevolent people contributed and paid the bill.