A Kumasi high court has sentenced a cola nut seller to 70 years' imprisonment for armed robbery and possession of firearms without authority. The convict, Alhassan.Moro, 34, was charged with seven counts, six of which were connected with armed robbery and the other for possessing firearms without authority. The court, presided over by Mr Justice Bright Mensah, sentenced him to 10 years on each count to run consecutively. Moro pleaded not guilty to the charges. The trial lasted almost two years before he was handed the sentence. Presenting the facts of the case, Mr Kyei Baffour Brentuoh, a state attorney, stated that on September 6, 2006 personnel from the Police Buffalo Unit in Kumasi stormed the residence of Alhassan Moro following a tip-off that he was engaged in armed robbery. When his room wa searched, one AK 47 assault rifle, one locally manufactured pistol, an axe, a mask and 21 rounds of live ammunition were found in the room. Other items found were electrical appliances and ladies' jeans and skirts. The state attorney said while investigations were going on, some people who had been robbed two days earlier, heard an announcement on radio that some items believed to be booty from an armed robbery operation had been deposited at the Police Buffalo Unit. They went there to identify some of the items on display as theirs. Mr Brentuoh said later on at an identification parade the convict was identified by six of his victims. The victims stated in court that on September 5, 2006, while asleep at around 1:00 a.m., the convict who was dressed in police uniform together with three others (now at large) wielding guns, subjected the tenants in their house to severe beatings and took away some living room appliances, gold and other personal belongings running into several thousands of new Ghana cedis. When the convict was arrested he claimed ownership of the items but could not show the police where he bought them. The prosecuting state attorney stated that since the convict, Alhassan Moro, could not tell the court how he came by the items and on what authority he possessed the AK 47 assault rifle, which is the preserve of the security agencies, he was guilty of the offences. He also drew the attention of the court to the corroborative evidence of the victims (witnesses), who made out the convict as the person who robbed them on September 5, 2006. They vividly described him to the police and easily identified him among the other people who were also paraded. After the end of the trial the judge convicted Alhassan Moro on all seven counts and sentenced him to ten years with hard labour on each count to run consecutively. Source: Mirror