A Circuit Court judge, Ebenezer Osei Darko has commended an armed robber saying, "You are a very truthful criminal".

Mr Osei Darko commended the accused person Samuel Kwame Akwetey aka Agbeko, after he had pleaded guilty to several counts of robbery and conspiracy in over five cases pending before the judge.

The comment attracted laughter in court.

The judge made the observation during the trial of seven accused per­sons who made their third appear­ance before him at a Koforidua Cir­cuit Court yesterday.

Agbeko is a 35-year-old mason, the alleged ring leader of a Koforidua robbery syn­dicate, busted sometime in January this year.

Samuel Akwetey had confessed in court that he was part of a robbery operation organised by one of his accomplices, Nicholas Eshun, who had then pleaded not guilty to the offence.

Samuel Kwame Akwetey appeared alongside Nicholas Eshun, an aluminium fabricator, 27; Isaac Agormor aka Baaba, mason, 22; God­win Ametorwo; Zibo Mahmoud; Gideon Boateng and Charles Awuku, 47, while one of their accomplices, Harrison Ofori, was still on the run.,

Zibo Mahmoud, a trader, was granted a GHc 25,000 bail with two sureties, one to be justified.

Charles Awuku was charged in two cases. He had bail for one but was remanded because his counsel could not convince the court to grant him bail in an earlier case which implicated him in the robbery escapades of Samuel and his accom­plices.

All are to reappear on February 26, 2014.

Cases involving rape would how­ever be called on a later date at the High Court.

The prosecution presented 17 cases before the court but only six had been called so far.

Samuel Akwetey appeared in all six cases to which he pleaded guilty to most of the charges levelled against him, attracting a commenda­tion from the judge for his truthful­ness.

The prosecution comprised three state attorneys, led by Mrs Addo Kyere.

Prosecuting, Frederick Tetteh told the court that on November 9, 2013, Godwin Ametorwo, Harrison Ofori, who is now at large and Samuel Akwetey, broke into the house of a medical doctor at the medical village at Koforidua with guns, knives and other offensive weapons, with the intension to rob.

They succeeded in robbing him of several items including two foreign pistols, one valued at GHc 5000 and the other GHc 4000, with five and four live cartridges in them respec­tively.

They also locked up two female visitors in the washroom and force­fully had sex them.

Gideon, who was charged with dishonestly receiving the pistols, at the cost of GHc900, nearly got bail. However, the prosecution was able to establish that Gideon had knowledge of the fact that the guns were stolen, following which he was denied bail.

He was accused of picking his accomplices close to one of the rob­bery scenes, together with their booty in his car.

In one of the cases, the prosecution said Nicholas Eshun, Samui Akwetey, Isaac Agormor and Harrison Ofori robbed one of their victims Isaac Opare Addo, at Densuagy; Koforidua, near Daasebre Estate ipads valued at GHc 4800, assorted phones and laptops costing GHc 6,300.

They also succeeded taking $180, £110 and an unspecified amount of money in Cedis.