A 52-year-old farmer, who defrauded a Beninios of GHc20,700.00 under the pretext of supplying him with jute cocoa sacks but failed to do so, was on Monday sentenced to 36 months imprisonment by an Accra Circuit Court.
Delivering George Tsawodzi's sentence, the court presided over by Mrs. Doris Bempong, a High Court Judge, ordered the convict to refund the money after serving his sentence.
Tsawodzi pleaded not guilty but was found guilty after the trial.
Prosecuting Chief Inspector Johnson .K. Anim told the court that Tsawodzi resides at Nima in Accra while the complainant Mr. Patrice Vieyra is a Beninois.
In June last year, the complainant arrived in Accra to purchase slightly used jute cocoa sacks and a witness in the matter introduced Tsawodzi as someone, who could assist him to acquire about 12,000 pieces of the sacks without any delay.
Subsequently, Tsawodzi collected GH¢20,700.00 and promised to deliver the sacks within a month but he failed.
Prosecution said the complainant, therefore, reported the matter to the Police and Tsawodzi was picked up and he was granted police enquiry bail.
Tsawodzi again fled from Nima and went to an unknown destination.
However after fleeing, prosecution said Police investigations revealed that Tsawodzi had deposited GH¢10,000.00 of the amount at a financial institution, but had cashed GH¢1,000.00 and bolted.
Chief Inspector Anim said luck, however, eluded Tsawodzi when the police picked him at Nsawam.
According to prosecution, the Police withdrew the rest of the money from the financial institution and handed it over to the complainant.