Tarkwa: The Tarkwa District Court One has sentenced 36-year-old labourer, Prince Gyasi, also known as Kofi Yesu, to four months in prison for the theft of a mobile phone.
According to Ghana News Agency, Gyasi pleaded guilty to the charge of stealing. The prosecution, led by Police Inspector Patrick Essien, informed the court presided over by Mr. Charles Owusu Nsiah that the first complainant, Bright Chigozie, is a trader who sells and swaps mobile phones at the Ford lorry station in Tarkwa. The second complainant, Agnes Nana Ama Blay, a seamstress, resides in Dompim, while Gyasi is from New Site, all within the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality.
The incident occurred on November 29, 2024, around 1:15 pm when Chigozie temporarily left his mobile phones under the care of his younger brother, Chukwu Emeka, who is a witness in the case. Gyasi approached Emeka, expressing interest in swapping his blue-black Redmi mobile phone for Chigozie's Samsung Galaxy A15, valued at GHS2,000. After inspecting Gyasi's phone, Emeka informed him that an additional GHS1,500 was required for the trade, which Gyasi declined due to budget constraints.
Inspector Essien explained that Gyasi took advantage of Emeka's distraction while attending to another customer, stole the Samsung Galaxy A15 by hiding it in his hat, and quickly fled the scene. Emeka, upon realizing the phone was missing, began searching for Gyasi and found him emerging from a nearby public urinal facility. Gyasi was subsequently arrested and taken to the Tarkwa police station along with the Redmi phone and the hat used in the theft.
During the investigation, it was revealed that the Redmi phone, intended for swapping, displayed a screen saver image of a young boy in a school uniform. Gyasi claimed he bought the phone from an unidentified person at the Tarkwa Railway Station for GHS300.00 and did not know the boy in the photo. Further investigation linked the WhatsApp profile on the Redmi phone to Nana Ama Quansah, with the MTN number 0544112617.
When contacted, the second complainant confirmed that her Redmi phone had been stolen earlier that day. She identified the phone and the screen saver photo as her own, with the image depicting her 2-year-old son. Gyasi was subsequently charged and brought before the court for sentencing.
