Armed Robbers Who Raped Woman On Matrimonial Bed Sentenced To 150 Years

A three-man armed gang which robbed a couple and raped the woman on her matrimonial bed at gunpoint have been handed a total of 150 years in hard labour for what the court described as "the most ignoble criminal conduct". The three Fred Agyapong, Christopher Gbetornyeku and Kwame Adjei, broke into the New Weija home of the victims at about 2:30 am on September 18, 2007, tied the hands of the man, while Gbetornyeku had sex with his wife. Although they pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiracy and robbery, the Accra Circuit Court at the end of the trial found them guilty and accordingly sentenced them to 10 years each on conspiracy and 50 years each on the robbery charge to run concurrently. The presiding judge, Mr. Eric Kyei Baffour, in passing the sentence, held that the prosecution was able to lead evidence against the convicts, noting it proved its case beyond all reasonable doubt. "The totality of evidence adduced on record weighs heavily against them. I find that the prosecution has proved all the ingredients of the offence against the accused persons beyond reasonable doubt," he said. Mr.Baffour said he took into consideration factors such as the pre-meditation and the gruesome manner in into which the crime was committed, the necessity to preserve decent society from criminal conduct and the fact that they showed no remorse for their action.