Unemployed man jailed 18 months for stealing palm fruits
Yaw Asiamah, a 22-year-old unemployed, who stole 168 bunches of palm fruits valued at GH¢200 was on Wednesday jailed 18 months in hard labour by the Kade District Magistrate Court.
Police Inspector Francis Cobbina, prosecuting, told the court that the complainant was an overseer at the Oil Palm Research Institute, Kusi and resident at Okumaning camp whilst Asiamah was unemployed residing at Akyem Otumi.
He said on April 17 at about 1630 hours, the complainant went to his palm plantation at the outskirts of Nkwantanang Township and harvested 168 bunches of palm fruits valued at GHC 200 and heaped them at the roadside, a few metres from the plantation to be sold the following day.
At about 1800 hours, Asiamah and one other person now at large who spotted the heaped fruits went to town and stopped a KIA truck, which one Issah Musah and Zuberu Mohammed were in charge.
The prosecutor said Asiamah and his accomplice hired them to go and convey the palm fruits to a certain woman at Nkwantanang.
He said Asiamah and his accomplice led the witnesses to the spot and loaded all the 168 bunches of fruits into the truck.
On their way to Nkwantanang, Asiamah and his accomplice told the witnesses that they believed that the woman they were going to sell the fruits to would not get money to pay them instantly in order for them to pay the driver and suggested to sell the goods to anyone who was prepared to buy them.
The prosecutor said Mohammed then decided to buy the fruits and offered to pay the market price of GH¢200.
The following day, the complainant visited his farm and detected theft of the palm fruits and upon his own investigations found out that it was Musa and Mohammed who conveyed the fruits from where he had heaped them.
He approached them and on interrogation, they admitted and further stated that it was Asiamah and his friend now at large who sold the palm fruits to them.
They traced them to Otumi where Asiamah was spotted, arrested and handed over to the police.
Source: GNA