A Ho Circuit Court has convicted an armed robber, Paul Avortide, 25, affectionately called Tinted, to 19 years’ imprisonment for robbing a pregnant woman of her bag containing money and a mobile phone. 

He allegedly brandished a machete on the woman’s face as he committed the Act, in Ho.  

Unemployed Avortide, whose conviction came in hard labour, pleaded guilty to robbery in a Court presided over by Osman Abdul Hakeem. 

His accomplice, Harmony Nbonu, 23, alias Arab Money and a mobile phone dealer, was charged with dishonestly receiving property belonging to Ms. Ogechi Chidiebere, a Nigerian pregnant national resident in Ho township. 

Police Detective Sergeant, Mr. Kwadwo Otibu-Gyan, prosecuting told the Court that on May 21, this year, at around 0400 hours at New Housing, near Lord Hotel area, a suburb of Ho, the accused brandished a weapon, forcibly robbed the expectant mother of GHS 3,000.00 in cash and a Tecno Spark 30c smartphone worth GHS 2,500.00 and disappeared into the dark. 

Ms Chidiebere, who was trekking to the Ho Municipal Hospital for routine antenatal care, though physically unharmed, was left severely traumatised by the attack from the convict, who threatened to slash her if she failed to hand over her bag. 

The convict succeeded in snatching the bag with the items away, reducing the victim to screams for help, which never came. 

The victim later reported her ordeal to the Municipal Police Command. 

Detective Sergeant Otibu-Gyan said the Regional Intelligence Police Directorate upon intelligence arrested and retrieved from Harmony the Tecno Spark 30c smartphone on June 19, this year, and confessed Avortide sold the phone to him at GHC 850 on May 21. 

The accused attempted to run away upon hearing of the arrest of Harmony but was apprehended on a get-away motorbike and consequently confessed to his crime in his caution statement. 

He said the complainant was subsequently invited to the station, where she identified the convict and the mobile phone as her property, leading to the prosecution of the convict and being jailed according to the charge.  

Judge Abdul Hakeem, citing the aggravating nature of the crime, swiftly convicted him on his own plea and imposed a 19-year hard labour sentence. The court underscored the need for deterrent penalties for violent crimes, particularly those endangering women and vulnerable persons. 

The court described the crime as “despicable and heartless,” particularly as it targeted a vulnerable pregnant woman seeking medical care. 

Harmony Nbonu was however acquitted and discharged after the court found insufficient evidence linking him directly to the robbery beyond his involvement in buying the stolen item.  

The judge ruled that mere possession and purchase of the phone, while incriminating, did not establish complicity in the primary offence.