‘We were unemployed, hungry’: Court rejects plea of 2 Nigerian illegal miners, jails them 20 years
The two, Ayodele Jackson and Benjamin Obin pleaded guilty to their charges but explained that they were unemployed and hungry and thus the illegal venture was their only option for survival.
A Circuit Court at Tarkwa has sentenced two Nigerians to 20 years in prison for their engagement in illegal mining popularly called ‘galamsey’ at Bepoase near Prestea in the Western Region.
When the convicts were presented before the court on October 7, the prosecutor, DSP Juliana Dadzie noted that they received a complaint relative to the illegal act of the two from officers of the Lands Commission.
She explained that two Lands Commission Officers spotted the convicts and fifteen others when embarking on their usual monitoring. They spotted these persons with two excavators, a washing plant, a pumping machine, and other tools used for illegal mining.
However, the 15 fled and they managed to arrest the two Nigerian convicts and handed them to the police.
The two, Ayodele Jackson and Benjamin Obin pleaded guilty to their charges but explained that they were unemployed and hungry and thus the illegal venture was their only option for survival.
Also, the convicts noted that they had engaged in illegal mining for only three weeks before their arrest.
However, the court rejected their explanation and thus convicted them on their plea.
Again, the court held that those explanations could never be a justification for persons to destroy the environment.
The court thus ordered their deportation after serving their prison sentences.
