Two friends, Baba Iddrisu, 36, and Akwasi Donkor, 35, have been jailed over a stolen bag of charcoal.
They however claim innocence despite being found guilty by a court at Krobo in the Eastern Region.
The duo, are charcoal makers residing in different villages but usually meet on market days at Krobo.
Unfortunately for them, their fate altered when they last met at the market to sell and buy goods back to their villages.
Speaking to crimecheckghana.org at the Awutu Camp prison, Iddrisu, the main suspect said he had sold seven out of ten bags of charcoal he sent to the market. He did not get a good bargain for the remaining three so he initially abandoned them, “but later I remembered that a customer had made an order for two bags so I took them to her shop in the market and left one which had its sack tattered behind,” the inmate narrated.
Iddrisu said at the spot where he had left the other bag, sacks of charcoal full of a truck were offloaded.
He said when he returned to convey his charcoal, he took one of the bags offloaded from the truck without searching for his.
“I took it with the intention that my charcoal would replace what I have taken,” he said.
The road to prison
According to Iddrisu, while he was conveying the charcoal away, the conductor of the truck confronted him accusing him of stealing the bag of wood coal.
“He was accusing me of stealing and I tried explaining to him about how I left my charcoal at that same spot but he would not listen to me. I asked him to call the owner of the charcoal to explain the side of my story,” he recounted.
“When the owner came she also did not want to give me a listening ear and asked us to go to the police station. She wanted us to pay an amount of Ghc 650 claiming we stole five bags of her 106 bags of charcoal,” he added.
Iddrisu who was with his friend, Donkor could not afford the complainant’s demand. Both were detained for two weeks before putting them before court.
“I even asked the investigator to lend me his mobile phone to call my sister to help us pay the money, but he refused,” the main suspect indicated.
Court proceedings
Baba Iddrisu who did not have a lawyer to represent him, stated that the presiding Judge asked him why he did not convey all three bags but left one behind.
The court then found Iddrisu and his friend culpable of stealing even after pleading not guilty.
They were sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment at the Awutu Camp Prison.
