Driver Jailed 30yrs For Snatching A Toyota Corolla Taxi Cab

A driver, Hayford Prince Ganyo, a resident of Achimota, has been sentenced to thirty years imprisonment for snatching a Toyota Corolla taxi cab, with registration number GE 44 22 � 12, a Nokia phone and an amount of GH�240 from a taxi driver, Joseph Dankyi. Mr. Ganyo, who appeared before the court yesterday, presided over by His Lordship Francis Obiri, after hearing the facts of the case, charged the accused with robbery, contrary to section 149 of ACT 29/60 of the Criminal Code. The Prosecutor, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Patrick Morkeh, briefing the court about the facts of the case said in January 2014, the accused person approached the taxi driver for his service. The complainant, Joseph Dankyi, in the course of his daily routine, got to Abofu at about 4:30pm and upon reaching there, Mr. Ganyo, together with one Ben, who is currently at large, approached him to transport them to Ajiringanor, adjacent former President Rawlings� house. According to him, the driver charged the accused persons GH�15, but when they got to America House, they (accused persons) requested that they needed to see someone, instructing him (the driver) to turn right towards Tesa, an area popularly known as �69�. �As the complainant drove a little further, Mr. Ganyo pulled a knife and placed it across his neck and ordered him to stop. The complainant stopped and the accused in an attempt to take the said vehicle from the complainant held his hand and it resulted in a scuffle�, DSP Morkeh explained. Continuing, he said Mr. Ganyo inflicted a wound on the right hand of the complainant as a result of the scuffle. Ben, the accomplice who is currently on the run, bolted away with the taxi cab, leaving the complainant and Mr. Ganyo at the crime scene. Mr. Ganyo, according to DSP Patrick Morkeh, also took to his heels but the complainant, upon shouting and calling for assistance got hold of him with the help of a taxi driver and a passenger, where he (Ganyo) was subsequently taken to the East Legon Police Station to be detained. He further told the court that the said vehicle was later found abandoned at a different location from the crime scene upon a police wireless message was communicated across all police stations in the Greater Accra region. �A search conducted disclosed that the accused has no permanent place of abode and in his earlier statement denied having committed the offence. �On the contrary, on January 30, 2014, on their way to the Legon District Headquarters Police Station, en-route to the court, the accused confessed committing the crime with Ben�. Gayon, the Prosecutor noted, told the Police that it was Ben who approached him and requested that he accompany him to Achimota to get a car for someone who had promised to pay them GH�3, 000. The taxi cab, he said, was later retrieved by the police.