Six persons have been sentenced to a total of 270 years imprisonment for robbing one Richard Kwakye and his family, who were returning from the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to their residence at Teshie-Nungua, in January, 2006. The court on Wednesday, convicted and sentenced the accused persons, Stephen Quashie alias Osama; Kwabena Nimako; Yaw Appiah alias Blackie; Kwasi Frimpong alias Kwasi Tietia; Kwadwo Ameyaw and Daniel Ayariba, house boy to the victim, to 45 years imprisonment each, on two counts of conspiracy and robbery. The sentences are to run concurrently. Before the court could get into the substance of the issue, Kwabena Nimako, Yaw Appiah and Kwadwo Ameyaw pleaded guilty to committing the crime, and were convicted, but sentence was deferred to the end of the trial. According to the court presided over by Justice Charles Quist, the prosecution had established beyond all reasonable doubt that all the accused persons committed the offence, adding that the sentence was to serve as a deterrent to others, considering the seriousness and gravity of harm caused to the victim. The court further noted that there were evidences linking each of the accused persons, even though they were arrested at different parts of the country. The facts of the case were that the victim, Richard Kwakye, was returning home after seeing off his 10 sons at the KIA, and on reaching their Teshie-Nungua residence, saw some young men in an ‘American style’ of dressing. Kwadwo Ameyaw approached the car that the victim and his family were in, forcibly opened the door of the driver’s seat, drew a cutlass, and slashed the hand of Kwakye, who had then gotten down to struggle with him. Ameyaw further slashed the victim’s face with the cutlass, which led to a scuffle between the two. In the course of the scuffle Ameyaw fell down and shouted for help from his accomplices, who attacked the victim until he fell unconscious. The robbers then entered the vehicle and robbed their victims of cash of US$60 and GH¢70 as well as five mobile phones. Kwakye, as a result of the attack, suffered multiple cutlass wounds and deep lacerations, for which he underwent surgery, and had to go abroad for further treatment. Source: The Chronicle