139 years For Ataa Ayi & Others
*…Would these long sentences deter others or should the firing squad have been invoked?
Kofi Agyepong | Posted: Wednesday, March 01, 2006
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| Ataa Ayi |
An Accra High Court has sentenced Aryee Ayittey alias Ataa Ayi and three others to one hundred and thirty nine (139) years in Prison with hard labour. The Court presided over by Justice Baffoe Bonney sentenced Ataa Ayi to 70 years while Samuel Kweku Anane, alias Sammy Tugah, Roger Kobla Agbodoga, alias Rojay and Raymond Ameh, received 69 years each. Atta Ayi who was described by the police as the nation's most notorious bandit had a high price tag placed on his head by the police. His whereabouts before he was captured prompted the largest manhunt in the nation's crime history, with expensive billboards, bearing his portrait, mounted in five of the ten regions of the country. Though they pleaded not guilty, the court found them guilty of conspiracy and robbery. The case for the prosecution was that on October 14, 2003, Mr Bernard Boadi Agyeman, Managing Director of Prism Consult Limited, sent one of his workers, Ilaisu Mamudi, to cash a cheque for 70 million cedis from the Opeibea House branch of the Standard Chartered Bank, near Kotoka International Airport.
After cashing the money, which was put in a bag, Mamudu saw Isaac Yanney, Managing Director of Investhec Company Limited, who said he had an appointment with Mr Boadi at his office at Dzorwulu.
Mr Yanney, therefore, offered Mamudu a lift in his car and the money was put into the boot of the car. On their way to the office the convicts, who were using a salon car trailed their vehicle till they got to the office in Dzorwulu.
The Prosecution said as soon as they parked their vehicle, the accused persons parked behind them, got off their car and started shooting indiscriminately.
They ordered their victim and the other to run away from the scene or risk being shot. The Prosecution said the accused persons fired several times at the boot of Mr Yanney's vehicle and forced it open, took the bag containing 70million cedis and fled.
On December 18, 2003 Sammy Tugah and Agbodoga were arrested on a tip-off and during interrogation mentioned Ameh and Ata Ayi as their accomplices.
Chief Inspector Michael Y. Asamoah had earlier told the court that Ataa Ayi and his gang had been on the police wanted list for a long time.
He said Atta Ayi and his gang were involved in a series of robberies all over the country, especially in the Accra and Tema metropolis, where they used G3 and AK 47 rifles to operate.
According to prosecution Ataa Ayi and his accomplices, in many cases, shot and killed victims who resisted their attacks.
Police Chief Inspector Asamoah said on September 7, last year, at about 0830 HRS Ataa Ayi, Mpata, trailed some Japanese nationals who went to withdraw 128,118,640 cedis from Obeibea Branch of the Standard Chartered Bank, to Oasis Hotel and robbed them of the amount.
In the process, Ataa Ayi shot Mobuyoshie Mochizuku, aged 70, with a G3 rifle. Mochizuku later died at the 37 Military Hospital.
It would be recalled that the Police arrested Atta Ayi on the 28th of March, 2005 at his hideout in the Teshie Tsui Bleo surburb of Accra. His girlfriend, suspected to be an accomplice, was also arrested in the raid.
The sentencing of Ataa Ayi yesterday is just but the first in a series of charges that are still awaiting trial. Ataa Ayi and his gang, including many suspects from Nigeria have terrorized Ghanaians in often daring and wicked attacks that have resulted in the loss of many lives, valuables and hundreds of millions of cedis.
Would these long sentences deter others or should the firing squad have been invoked?
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