Bright Abri, a 29-year-old farmer, was found guilty of stealing two obsolete water pumping machines with a combined value of GH1,600 and was sentenced to one year in prison by the Hohoe Circuit Court.
Abri entered a guilty plea while also providing an explanation; yet, this was not enough to clear his name.
The complainant was a motor mechanic, according to Inspector Rachel Osei Agyapomaa, who stated this fact before the court, which was presided over by Mr. Michael Johnson Abbey.
The complainant forgot about some ancient water pumping machinery on April 15 and left them in his shop.
The following day, at approximately 5am , he left his house to go to his farm. While he was there, he received a call informing him that Abri had been arrested with certain water pumping devices, and that he should therefore go and identify the things.
According to the prosecutor, the complainant stated that upon entering his shop, he discovered that two of the water pumping equipment that had been delivered to him for repairs had been stolen.
After that, he went to the convict's house, where he discovered the two machines and identified them.
The complainant was informed by witnesses in the case that the convict was apprehended with the machines while he was haggling with a junk merchant who happened to be passing by at the time.
Inspector Agyapomaa stated that the convicted individual was taken into custody and taken along with the machines to the local police station, where an official complaint was filed.
During the preliminary investigations conducted at the complainant's shop, the convicted felon stated that he did not take the equipment, but he later admitted to doing the crime.
He claimed that on the aforementioned date, at approximately 0430 hours, he went to the complainant's motor shop and stole the two machines, which he then brought back to his house to sell as scrap metal.