Tarkwa Court jails student 18 months for snatching a phone

The court in Tarkwa ruled against the teenager after he admitted stealing the phone.

The Tarkwa District Court Two has sentenced 18-year-old Bright Atanga to 18 months in prison for stealing the mobile phone of a University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) student. The ruling brings closure to an incident that drew attention in the mining town earlier this year.

In delivering judgment, the Tarkwa Court noted that the student had confessed to the crime and therefore handed him the custodial sentence. The case involved the unlawful snatching of a UMaT student’s phone, which prosecutors said was taken in broad daylight.

Police Prosecutor, Sergeant Adwoa Yeboah, told the court that the complainant, Samuel Dontoh, a businessman at Nkamponase, reported the matter after Atanga was apprehended. She explained that the convict lived in Cyanide, both within the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality.

On April 14, 2025, police received information that Atanga was being beaten by a mob near the UMaT campus at Nkamponase. Officers rescued him, took him to the hospital for treatment, and later brought him to the police station for questioning.

Investigations revealed that Atanga had jumped a fence wall into the complainant’s house while fleeing after snatching the phone. The mob arrested him on the spot and retrieved the stolen device.

Atanga later admitted to the theft and was arraigned before the Tarkwa Court. He was convicted on his own plea and sentenced to serve 18 months behind bars.