An Accra to Takoradi commercial driver has been jailed for stealing a car starter.
A court at Winneba in the Central Region handed Godfred Adu a two-year jail term at the Winneba Local Prison after he pleaded guilty to stealing.
Four months into his sentence, the 30-year-old man is blaming police officers for their ill advice for him to plead guilty in court despite his innocence.
According to him, he was falsely accused by his car owner of stealing the starter of the car he drove after he had complained of it being faulty.
Narrating events leading to his arrest, he said while he was en route back to Accra on one of his trips, the car broke down in the middle of the journey at Biriwa, a town close to Mankessim.
“I informed my car owner of the fault. She asked me to tow the vehicle to a fitting shop for repairs at Mankessim,” he said.
Godfred said the starter which had developed a fault could not be fixed hence a new one was required.
But the car owner said she could not afford a new starter. Godfred indicated that he suggested to the car owner that since she is unable to buy a new car starter, they should replace it with an old one.
“The old starter was a 2021 model. The initial idea was that I had to go with a mechanic to uninstall the old starter and to install it on the vehicle,” he indicated.
The convict said when the mechanic brought the vehicle without his knowledge, he complained to his car owner that he (Godfred) had removed the vehicle’s battery and the starter and sold it.
“My madam did not tell me about the complaint made to her and went ahead to make a case against me at the police station,” he said.
Before that, Godfred said he had exchanged the starter with another driver who promised to return it but never did.
The young man said he was arrested by the police though the security officers wanted to resolve the issue out of court.
But the car owner insisted on being owed an amount the driver could not afford.
Godfred said the police officers gave up and arraigned him before the court with advice that he should plead guilty to the offence.
He obliged but it rather earned him a 24 months sentence.
“In court, the police investigator called me aside and told me to find Ghc 1,000 for the car owner but I had only Ghc 400 which they did not accept,” he said.
The convict made these revelations when Crime Check Foundation (CCF) paid a working visit to the Winneba Local Prison with its ‘Time With The Prisoner’ Series.
Time With The Prisoner a TV programme that seeks to create awareness of the consequences of crime.
The objective is to reduce crime rate.
