A 23-year-old unemployed woman was sentenced to six months in prison with hard labor by the Winneba District Magistrate’s Court for stealing an iPhone worth GH1,200 and using it to withdraw GH13,000 from the complainant’s account.
Priscilla Gyedu, alias Maame Adwoa, pleaded guilty with an explanation, but the judge, Mr John Kweku Josiah-Koffie, punished her based on her own plea.
The Prosecutor, Detective Police Inspector Dorinda Azumah, told the court that Mr Williams Asare, a receptionist at the Windy Lodge, is the complainant, while Gyedu lives in Kasoa.
Gyedu was hired as a receptionist and was working with the complainant sometime in April 2021, according to the prosecutor, and the two became friends.
Gyedu urged the complainant to buy her airtime, which the complainant attempted to do using electronic cash from his phone, but it failed owing to a network problem, according to Detective Inspector Azumah.
According to the prosecutor, the complainant eventually provided his secret pin code to her.
Gyedu used the complainant’s iPhone to make calls on Saturday, September 25, last year, according to the prosecutor.
To avoid being followed by the complaint, the accused was able to withdraw GH13,000 from the complainant’s Ecobank account using his mobile money account. He then destroyed the phone and tossed it away.
Later, she went into hiding.
On Tuesday, January 16, 2022, the accused person was involved in a similar case in Kumasi and was handed over to the Kumasi-Asokwa Police.
The complainant got wind of it and informed the Winneba Police who made an arrangement with the Asokwa Police and Gyedu was escorted down to Winneba.
She admitted the offence in her caution statement and after investigations, she was arraigned before the court, the prosecutor added.
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