Emmanuel Eshun, a 20-year-old small-scale miner, who stole his friend’s iPhone 11 valued at GH¢3,500, has been sentenced to three months’ imprisonment with hard labour by the Tarkwa District Court One.

He pleaded guilty to the charge of stealing.

The prosecutor, Police Sergeant Adwoa Yeboah, told the court, presided over by Mr Charles Owusu Nsiah, that the complainant, Kwame Nimorlaar, was a small-scale miner and a friend of the convict.

She said both resided at Aboso Post Office and Fanti Mines, respectively, in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality of the Western Region.

The prosecutor said that on October 1, 2025, at about 6:00 p.m., Eshun visited the complainant at his residence and requested his iPhone 11 to take photographs in his presence.

After some minutes, Eshun told Mr Nimorlaar that he was going to check something by the roadside and promised to return shortly but failed to do so.

Prosecution said that on October 20, 2025, at about 11:00 p.m., Mr Nimorlaar spotted Eshun at Mandeyline, a suburb of Aboso, and with the assistance of his brothers, dragged him to the Aboso Police Station to lodge a formal complaint.

Sergeant Yeboah said that during interrogation, Eshun claimed he had received a phone call from a friend, one Baldest, asking him to meet him at the “I Am That I Am” Hotel at Aboso Mandeyline.

According to the prosecutor, Eshun said he informed Mr Nimorlaar before leaving and assured him that he would return shortly with the phone.

The prosecutor said Eshun further told the police that on his way, he encountered another friend, known as “2Pac,” to whom he owed GH¢1,600, and that the friend angrily seized the iPhone from him.

She said Eshun failed to assist the police in arresting the said friend, and, after investigation, he was charged with stealing and brought before the court.