The Tarkwa District Court One has sentenced a 36-year-old labourer, Prince Gyasi alias Kofi Yesu ,to four months imprisonment over mobile phone theft.

He pleaded guilty to stealing.

Police Inspector Patrick Essien, prosecuting, told the court presided over by Mr Charles Owusu Nsiah, that the first complainant, Bright Chigozie, is a trader who sells and swaps mobile phones on a table at the Ford lorry station, Tarkwa.

He said the second complainant Agnes Nana Ama Blay, a seamstress, resided at Dompim, while Gyasi is from New Site, all in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality.

On November 29, 2024, at about 1315 hours, the complainant displayed his mobile phones on a table and left them in the care of his younger brother, Chukwu Emeka, a witness in the case, before temporarily leaving the scene.

He said Gyasi approached the witness while he was at his workplace and expressed interest in swapping his blue-black Redmi mobile phone for the complainant’s Samsung Galaxy A15 mobile phone, valued at GH¢2,000.

Inspector Essien said after inspecting the convict’s phone, the witness informed him that he needed to add GH¢1,500 to make the trade for the Samsung Galaxy A15 mobile phone, but Gyasi said the extra amount was beyond his budget.

Prosecution said Gyasi took advantage of the witness’s distraction while attending to another customer, stole the Samsung Galaxy A15 mobile phone, hid it in his hat, and quickly fled the scene.

He said that after completing the transaction with the customer, the witness realized that the Samsung Galaxy A15 mobile phone had vanished, began searching for Gyasi and soon saw him emerging from a nearby public urinal facility at the station.

He said Gyasi was arrested and accompanied by the complainant, who had then returned to the scene, was taken to the Tarkwa police station with the Redmi phone and the hat he used in the theft.

The complainant reported the matter to the police, and during the investigation, it was discovered that the Redmi mobile phone, intended for swapping, had a screen saver image of a young boy wearing a preparatory school uniform.

Inspector Essien said the convict claimed he bought the Redmi mobile phone from an unidentified person at the Tarkwa Railway Station for GH¢300.00 and didn’t know the boy in the screen saver photo.

Further investigation showed that the WhatsApp app on the Redmi phone was active until November 30, 2024, and a search on the WhatsApp profile was linked to Nana Ama Quansah, with the MTN number 0544112617.

The said MTN number was called and the second complainant answered, explaining that on November 29, 2024, at 1100 hours, she got off at New Site and while rushing to board a vehicle to Bogoso, she realized that her Redmi phone (worth GH¢2,060. 00) with GH¢140.00 in its back cover had been stolen from her handbag after she sat down in the vehicle.

The second complainant went to the Tarkwa police station, identified the Redmi mobile phone as hers, and confirmed the screen saver photo as her 2-year-old son, a pupil at Dompim.

Gyasi was subsequently charged and put before the court.