An Adentan Circuit Court has sentenced two persons to 35 years imprisonment each for kidnapping and robbing a trader at Amrahia in the Greater Accra Region.

Richmond Kluttey, 26, and Samuel Olise, 27, aka Junior, were found guilty on the charges of conspiracy to kidnap and rob, kidnapping and robbery at the end of the trial.

Kluttey and Olise are said to have demanded GHS6,000 as ransom before releasing the victim. Two lawyers who acted as friends of the court, prayed for mitigation saying the court in sentencing them should consider the accused persons' age and the fact that the accused persons were first offenders.

“We pray that the court will tamper justice with mercy," the lawyers submitted. The court presided over by Mrs Sedinam Awo Balokah in sentencing, said the court had considered the accused persons’ ages, the fact that they were first offenders.

The court said it was, however, minded to make some observations during the trial. According to the court the accused persons in their defence turned to “colour”, the mind of the court with a different story indicating the complainant and his friends were prostitutes who had come to cook for them and later borrowed money from them (accused persons).

It noted that the accused persons indicated that because the victim and her friends could not pay the money given to them, they (the accused persons) decided to take the victim’s iPhone 11 valued at GHS5,300.

The court said it was not enthused about how the accused persons had labelled the victim as a prostitute or hook up girl and that no matter the kind of job a person did, he or she should not be harmed or kidnapped.

The prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Maxwell Lanyo, said the complainant, name withheld, was a trader residing at lakeside Estate whiles the accused persons, now convicts, were labourers at a block factory at Damfa, Accra.

The prosecution said on May 1, 2022, at about 7:00pm, a guy whom the complainant had never met but had been chatting with, called “scatter”, on an online dating platform, called the complainant and invited her to a friend’s birthday party at Amrahia, near Christian University College, Accra.

It said the complainant left her house to attend the party and on arrival at a section of the road near the Christian University College, the prosecution said the said “Scatter”, sent Olise to meet the complainant and send her to the party ground.

The prosecution said later, Olise convinced the complainant that the gate to the place was locked so they would have to alight from their car and walk. The prosecution noted that Olise and the complainant alighted and walked through the bush.

According to the prosecution, half way through the journey, Olise gagged the complainant and threatened to kill her if she shouted. The prosecution said Kluttey emerged from the bush with a knife and pointed same to the complainant, snatched her iPhone 11 and quickly dragged her to another location and raped her.

It said after the rape, Kluttey asked the complainant to disable her iCloud account on the phone and took possession of it. The prosecution told the court that the complainant was made to call her loved ones to send her ransom before she could be freed.

It said the complainant remained under the control of the accused persons until her landlady transferred GHS2,000 to a Momo vender to Olise’s phone as a ransom before they set the complainant free.

The prosecution said a report was made to the Lakeside Police Station and through intelligence, it was found that the convicts and others had a similar case at the Adenta Police Station.

The Lakeside Police proceeded to the Adenta Police Station where the complainant identified Olise as the person who met her on the road, led her to the bush and gagged her.

The prosecution said Olise was arrested and in his investigation caution statement, Olise denied the offences but later confessed in the presence of an independent witness.