The Tarkwa District Magistrate Court II has sentenced a 24-year-old firewood seller to 18 months imprisonment in hard labour for stealing rubber lumps valued at GH¢1,722.

Aziz Fuseini, who resided in Damang in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality, pleaded guilty to stealing.  

Isaac Osei Asare, the presiding judge, therefore, convicted Fuseini on his own plea.  

Prosecution, led by Police Sergeant Adwoa Yeboah, said the complainant, Mary Amoah, and her husband were into rubber plantation and food crop farming at Nsuaem near Aboso.  

She said that on December 16, 2025, at about 12:00 noon, the complainant was heading back from her crop farm when she encountered Fuseini loading her harvested rubber lumps for sale into a tricycle.  

Sergeant Yeboah said Prince Ampofo, the rider and a witness in the case were also standing by his tricycle near the rubber plantation.  

The prosecutor said for fear of being attacked, the complainant after confronting Fuseini, greeted and walked away, planned to reach the main road, and raised alarm, so people could help her arrest him.  

According to her, Fuseini sensed the complainant could cause trouble, ordered the rider to take off, and, along the way, the complainant pleaded to join them on the main road, all in an effort to have him apprehended.  

She said that when they arrived at the Aboso refuse dump, she alighted and raised an alarm.  

Fuseini sped off, but Ampofo was picked up and handed over to the police along with the goods in the tricycle. The complainant also reported the matter to the police.  

Sergeant Yeboah informed the court that, while investigations were ongoing, it had been determined that the rider was not involved in the crime; he had only been hired by Fuseini.  

The prosecutor said Ampofo was later released on police enquiry bail to aid investigations.  

She said that on December 12, 2025, Ampofo took Fuseini to the police station while Fuseini was about to hire another rider for a job.