Sekondi, April 27 GNA - A Sekondi High Court on Tuesday sentenced three armed robbers to a total of 78 years imprisonment in hard labour for armed robbery.

They pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The are Shaibu Gambuisore, alias Osama, aged 42, Eric Tetteh, alias Moses Agbomeh aged 30, were jailed 30 years each while Daniel Ntow, aged 23, a former student of the Ghana Secondary Technical School (GSTS) was jailed 18 years.

Shaibu and Tetteh are already serving 55 and 45 years jail sentences respectively for their involvement in different armed robbery cases. Prosecuting, Mr. Patrick Sam Akuffo, a State Attorney told the court presided over by His Lordship Justice Clemence J. Honyenugah that on December 3 2003, the group, armed with locally manufactured guns and knives, attacked the house of one Mr. Charles Idun, a marine engineer at the Airport Ridge near Kwesiminstim in Takoradi around 01:00 hours.

They made away with several items and money in various currencies including 1.5 million cedis, 400 CFA francs, over 7,000 US dollars, two mobile phones, a number of wrist watches, jewellery including Mrs Felicia Idun's wedding rings and a half piece of cloth.

Mr. Akuffo said the group threatened Madam Juliana Nkansah mother of Mr. Idun, Felicia and their six children with death, if they attempted to resist.

He said during the robbery, one of the children of the Idun's, who had attended the same school with Ntow, identified him in spite of the polythene mask that he wore.

The prosecutor said four days later, the Kwesiminstim neighbourhood watch committee spotted four men including Ntow around 03.00 hours in a nearby plantain farm but when the committee attempted to arrest them, they all fled and left Ntow behind.

Mr. Akuffo said the committee arrested and handed him over to the Kwesiminstim Police, and a search on him, revealed that he had one of the watches, stolen from Mr. Idun's house in his pocket and a quantity of leaves suspected to be Indian hemp.

He said a further search in his room led to the discovery of a large quantity of dried leaves also suspected to be Indian hemp and another wristwatch.

The prosecutor said investigations conducted by the Police revealed that Shaibu and Tetteh sold the two wristwatches to Ntow after the booty had been shared among them.

Before sentences were passed, all the three accused persons pleaded for leniency.

Justice Honyenugah after reading his 42-paged judgement, advised parents not to shield their "wayward children", but rather should be prepared to reprimand them when they go wrong. He cited a case from the 1971 Ghana Law Report on armed robbery and said that, court sentences by then, were expected to be deterrent and punitive.

He said armed robbers were making the society unsafe and life worthless by their "senseless killing, maiming and looting of hard earned property".