Biometric Laptop Thief Remanded

The Agona Swedru Circuit Court on Thursday remanded a hawker from Accra who stole a laptop which was being used for the biometric registration exercise at Agona Swedru Roman Catholic School Centre into prison custody. Samuel Baah aka Kwame Yeboah, 29, pleaded guilty to three charges of causing damage, unlawful entry and stealing. He would re-appear on May 15. Police Inspector Alfred Boatey, prosecuting, told the court presided over by Nathaniel K. E. Osam that on 31st March, the accused broke into the office of the Catholic Junior High School and stole the laptop. The laptop and other materials were kept at the office of the school by the Registration Officer, Theophilous Addo-Zota, who is also the head teacher of the school. The prosecution said Mr Addo-Zota and Mr Richard, Special Registration Officer at the centre reported the case to the Police and was subsequently arrested. The prosecutor said the police, during their investigation, arrested Baah at Tudu in Accra where he transacts his business. Baah, in his defence, said he was walking in front of the office at midnight and saw the office opened. He said he entered and picked the laptop, adding that he never touched the webcam machine which also got missing. Inspector Boatey said the laptop was handed over to Kwame Amoah, Agona West Electoral Commission Director who confirmed that the item belonged to the Commission. He said some parts were removed from the laptop in an attempt to decode it. In a related development, the Circuit Court granted bail to two persons who attempted to use false information to register in Efutu Municipal Assembly in the Central region. The two, George Arthur and Joshua Odoom, tried to register with the house number of Joseph Roland Quainoo, Municipal Co-ordinator of National Disaster Management Organisation but luck eluded them when the nephew of the complainant challenged them. The two, who pleaded not guilty for deceit of a public officer, would re-appear on May 21. The facts of the case are that George and Joshua attempted registering at the Winneba Sports College Registration Centre with the house number of the complainant whose residence is popularly known as �Class One Bay.� However the nephew of Mr Quianoo, who is an agent of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at the centre, noted that he knew members of the household. He therefore prompted his uncle who caused the arrest of the two accused persons at the Winneba Police Station.