A 33-year-old man, George Yorke, a key repairer, was on Thursday, sentenced to 30 years imprisonment, for unlawful removal of a child and child theft by a Takoradi Circuit court.
He pleaded not guilty.
Giving the facts of the case, Police Inspector Ben Annor told the court, presided over by Mr Kwasi Boakye that, the complainant, Sadatu Adams, an ex-girlfriend of the convict, had a ten-year old child with Yorke.
Inspector Annor said on May 2007, the convict asked Sadatu to allow the child to stay with him, in order to attend school, which the mother agreed.
The prosecutor said later, the mother requested the convict to allow the child to spend the weekend with her at East Tanokrom.
Yorke told her he had taken the child to Accra to stay with the aunt.
Inspector Annor said the mother requested for the telephone number of the said aunt but the convict this time around said the child was rather staying with a friend’s sister.
The complainant, therefore, became suspicious and reported the case to the police and Yorke was subsequently arrested and arraigned before the court for prosecution.
It has been three years now since the police started investigations into the case and the convict had failed to tell the where-about of the child.