IBRAHIM SAANI @ BABANJIDA & OTHERS v. THE REPUBLIC

J U D G M E N T

A. M. DOMAKYAAREH (MRS), J.A.

1. This is a criminal appeal from the judgment of His Lordship K. A. Pobih, (J) dated 29th July 2009 whereby he convicted the appellants on one count of conspiracy to commit robbery and three counts of robbery and sentenced each of them to twenty-one (21) years Imprisonment with Hard Labour (I.H.L) on each count to run concurrently.

2. The 1st and 2nd appellants, and one other who was at large were arraigned before the High Court, Kumasi on four counts of offence, namely:-

§ One count of conspiracy to commit crime to wit Robbery contrary to Sections 23(1) and 149 of Act 29 of 1960 as amended by NLCD 398 paragraph 6

§ Three counts of robbery contrary to Section 149 of Act 29 of 1960 as amended by NLCD 398 paragraph 6 as amended by Act 646 of 2003

1. Facts of the case

The facts are that on 18th January 2007, the two appellants and two others embarked upon a robbery expedition. They approached one Mohammed Misbain, complainant in Count 2 and asked him to take them from Aboabo to the Station. When they however got to Labour at Asafo, the accused attacked the complainant with locally made guns and robbed him of his Opel Vectra Taxi cab with registration number BA 219 T.

The first appellant (Ibrahim Saani) then took over the taxi and drove it towards Manhyia where they saw one Alfred Aboagye Frimpong, the complainant in Count 3, chatting with a friend. At gun point, the accused took over the complainant’s Golf Saloon car with registration number BA 7 X, two mobile phones and a cash of ¢400,000.00. The robbers then abandoned the Opel Vectra taxi cab and the 1st appellant took over control of the Golf Saloon car and drove towards Ash Town. The robbers saw one Policeman GC/2 No.37161, Kumi Benjamin, the complainant in Count 4 holding his mobile phone. The robbers stopped and the third accused Jahrule (now at large) and Musah Abdul Mumuni alias Apozo (deceased) attacked the complainant and robbed him of his mobile phone. They then fired at the complainant and injured him in both thighs. The complainant, who was also then armed, fired at the robbers injuring Apozo (deceased) and Jahrule (at large). The two appellants managed to put the two injured accomplices in the Golf Saloon car and drove away. Upon a tip off, the police went to a house at Aboabo and retrieved the body of Apozo for post mortem examination at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi. The robbers abandoned the Golf Saloon car at a place near Kumasi