The Accra Circuit Court yesterday sentenced three armed robbers to a total of 130 years' imprisonment with hard labour. Two of the convicts, Gideon Fianko, a driver, and Prince Owusu Ansah, a labourer, who have existing robbery records and have served previous jail terms, were convicted after pleading guilty to robbing a taxi driver. The two are to serve 50 years apiece in prison. At 12.40 a.m. on February 18, 2013, the two robbed Samuel Kwaku of his Toyota Corolla taxi, registration number GB 6026, at Adetan in Accra. In another robbery case, Yaw Annan Ampomah, unemployed, was sentenced to a term of 30 years with hard labour after he pleaded guilty to robbing a resident of Dansoman, one Joe Debrah, of his DSTV mobile phone and cash, amounting to a total of GH¢ 460. Ampomah committed the offence at Dansoman on February 16, 2013. The court also directed that a knife seized from Ampomah be destroyed under the supervision of the court's registry. According to the prosecution, Ampomah and an accomplice who is currently on the run threatened Mr Debrah at knife-point in Dansoman around 11 p.m. and made away with the phone and money. Ampompah was apprehended some few minutes after the robbery while his accomplice escaped. In sentencing Fianko and Ansah, the court presided over by Mr Francis Obiri made reference to 1 Timothy 1:9 and submitted that robberies are on the rise and that the court should therefore give the convicts "enhanced sentences." 1 Timothy 1:9 states, "knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers." (King James Version) Fianko had pleaded with the court to bond him to be of good behaviour, while Ansah prayed for mercy, but the prosecutor, Deputy Superintendent of Police Reindorf Agyemang, urged the court to ignore their pleas for leniency. According to Mr Agyemang, the two had "graduated" from stealing car batteries and household equipment to "car robbery." Passing its sentence, the court maintained that the convicts did not deserve mercy, adding that robbery was so rampant that "people cannot even travel at night." Mr Obiri further stated that there is a need for the "accused persons to be confined for a long time" and suggested the need for national research into why so many youth engage in robbery, the narcotic drug trade and defilement. The case of the prosecution against Fianko and Ansah held that the complainant was sitting in his taxicab waiting for passengers when the two approached him and requested to be taken to Adetan Old Barrier for a charge of GH¢5. On reaching the Barrier, Ansah ordered the complainant to turn in another direction, to which the complainant obliged. At that point, Ansah pulled out a knife and threatened to stab the complainant if he did not stop the vehicle. The complainant stopped the vehicle and Fianko eventually pulled him out of it and later drove the vehicle towards Koforidua. Luck eluded the two robbers as they were arrested by policemen at a checkpoint and subsequently handed over to the Adetan Police. The two admitted the offence in their caution statements to the police.