7years jail term for stealing just an astroturf unfair — Lydia Forson pities 21-year-old thief

Ghanaian social critic and actress, Lydia Forson, has criticized the judicial system for sentencing what she described as a poor guy to 7 years imprisonment for stealing and using the artificial green material meant for an astroturf as carpet in his room.

A 21-year-old resident of Dwenem, a town in the Berekum Municipality in the Bono region, Gideon Asuako, was reported to have stolen an artificial grass meant for the construction of an astroturf field in the same municipality.

Following this, the police swiftly arrested him and arranged him before the Berekum Circuit Court presided over by His Lordship Osei Kofi Amoako, where he was charged with unlawful entry, unlawful damage and stealing.

After pleading guilty to these charges, the court sentenced him to seven years imprisonment in hard labour.

“UPDATE: A 21-year-old man, Gideon Asuako, who stole parts of the artificial pitch at Drobo Faaman to use as a carpet in his room, has been jailed for 7 years.

“A prison officer friend at Sunyani confirms to me he has just been brought there to begin his sentence term,” a sports journalist Saddick Adams tweet on July 7 reads.

Responding to the tweet spotted by Modernghana News, Miss Forson asserted that the Ghanaian judicial system is always harsh on the poor.

She, however, added that her statement is not to support the crime, but he feels sentencing someone for a sin he committed, probably because of poverty, to a term of seven years is too harsh.

“Our justice system works against the poor and for the rich.

“Not saying he shouldn’t have been punished, but to lose 7 years of a life that already seemed to be one with a lot of struggle is so harsh,” she bemoans.