Man jailed 14 years for stealing plantain & cassava worth GH¢50. A 24-year-old Ghanaian unemployed man will turn 38 years old by the time he finishes serving a 14-year jail term handed him by the Tepa Circuit Court for stealing plantain & cassava worth GH¢50. According to the Ghana News Agency, Justice Ezekiel, pleaded guilty to stealing the food items from a farm at Akwasiase, near Tepa in the Ahafo Ano North District.
The court presided over by Gwendolyn Millicent Owusu in its wisdom then sentenced the young man on his own plea to almost a decade and a half year imprisonment. The court heard that on September 5th, 2021, the convict had gone to harvest the plantain and the cassava secretly. However, luck eluded him while he was loading them into a sack and the owner of the farm caught him red-handed.
Police Chief Inspector, Jonas Newlove Agyei told the court that Ezekiel was handed over to the Tepa police station together with the stolen foodstuff. He added that the suspect who is an ex-convict confessed to the crime in his caution statement. He was then charged and arraigned for the court which eventually led to his imprisonment.
The court judgement begs the question of whether or not the sentence meted out to the poor Ezekiel is commensurate with the offence of stealing plantain & cassava worth GH¢50. Man jailed 14 years for stealing plantain & cassava worth GH¢50 in Tepa.