A 35-year-old barber has been handed a 10-year prison sentence with hard labor after he admitted to committing two offenses: threatening to cause harm and robbery.

James Awuni confessed to these charges, which are in violation of Section 75 and 149(1) of the Criminal Offences Act of 1960, Act 29, respectively.

An accomplice named Kwame Copper is currently evading arrest.

On August 6, 2023, Awuni used a Vodafone number (0500637074) to contact the wife of the Chief Executive Officer of Obuasi Bitters. He falsely claimed that he had been hired by someone to harm her husband.

Disturbed by the threat, the woman informed her husband, who also called the same number to verify the claim.

Awuni informed the complainant that he was hesitant to carry out the contract for undisclosed reasons and demanded a sum of GHS1,200 as compensation, a request to which Mr. Amoh agreed.

After transferring the money, the complainant promptly reported the matter to the Police Intelligence Directorate, leading to an investigation. Acting on intelligence, the directorate apprehended Awuni on September 27, 2023, at his hideout in Bebu near Kumasi, in the Ashanti region.

During court proceedings on Friday, October 6, 2023, ASP Stephen Ofori, the prosecutor, revealed that Awuni had implicated Kwame Copper as his accomplice.

Appearing in court on Monday, October 2, 2023, Awuni pleaded guilty to both the charges of threatening to cause harm and robbery. He also pledged to refund the money to the complainant.

Before being sentenced to a 10-year prison term, Awuni refunded the sum of GHS1,200 on Friday. He received a two-month jail term for the threat of harm and a concurrent 10-year sentence for robbery.

Presiding Judge Her Honour Vida Yeboah explained that the court took into consideration the fact that the accused had returned the money to the complainant when imposing the minimum sentence for robbery.