4 Kidnappers Jailed 40 Years

Four gunmen who kidnapped two Canadian students in Kumasi in 2019 have each been sentenced to a jail term of 10 years in hard labour for kidnapping and nine years for conspiracy to kidnap.

The two sentences are to run concurrently.

The jailed kidnapers include three Nigerian residents in Ghana and one Ghanaian.

The four, after the kidnap in 2019, kept the Canadian girls hostage and demanded a ransom of USD800, 000.

The jailed criminals are Yusif Yakubu, a Ghanaian and Sampson Agharlor, alias Romeo; Elvis Ojiyorwe, Jeff Omarsar all Nigerian residents in Ghana.

The kidnapped Canadians Lauren Tilley and Bailey Chitty, aged 19 and 20, were working in Ghana for an international charity organization in 2019 when they were kidnapped at gunpoint.

Ghana’s National Security however tracked the kidnappers and rescued the kidnapped girls who had been kept for days.

They were physically unhurt and were sent to Accra to receive professional emotional and psychological support before they traveled back to their home country.

Judge Not Happy

The court, presided over by, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, apologized to families of the Canadian victims on behalf of Ghana.

Justice Osei Marfo described the incident as a horrific crime that caused the country shock and despair. She said such a thing should never be repeated or allowed to destroy Ghana’s relationship with international partners.

Prosecution narrated to the court that one of the Nigerians, Agharlor, who had been in Ghana for some time, became friends with Yakubu in March 2019.

In the course of their friendship, Agharlor brought up the idea of kidnapping as a lucrative venture, an idea that was accepted by Yakubu.

Yakubu agreed to assist Agharlor in the kidnapping activity and even helped him to procure a pistol.

To bring their idea into fruition, the prosecutor said, Agharlor went to Nigeria in May 2019 and recruited Ojiyorwe and Omarsar to be part of the gang.

Prosecution said the three Nigerians, upon their arrival in Ghana, resided at Ashaiman in Greater Accra for some time before they moved to Kumasi in the Ashanti Region to meet up with Yakubu.

When they got to Kumasi, Agharlor, who was the leader of the gang, gave some money to Yakubu to hire a car, an apartment and also buy pistols and other items to enable them to carry out their kidnapping activities.