19-year-old boy jailed for stealing 22 bunches of palm fruits

A teenager has been jailed for two years for stealing palm fruits.

19-year-old Asante told crimecheckghana.org how his father denied him as his son when he was born. The neglect by his father he said led him into waywardness.

“When I was born my father said was not his child but my mother told me he was my dad,” he sobbed.

According to Asante, he had to engage in criminal acts to be able to cater for himself after his mother died.

He said he had to live with a kind neighbor and later with his grandmother. However, he later left to live with his friend who introduced him to crime.

Asante said he never had the opportunity to be enrolled in school because of neglect and that is his greatest regret in life.

His life exploits led him to steal palm fruits. “I was lucky because the owner said he would have shot us to death. They only subjected us to some beatings and then sent us to the police station,” he recounted.

Asante said he was arraigned before court and I was jailed for two years in default of a Six Thousand Ghana cedis fine.

Crime Check Foundation (CCF) caught up with Asante during its routine visits to the Awutu Camp Prison as part of its Time With The Prisoner Series programme. He told CCF he wish he could get proper education to have a bright future.

Worried about his condition, the Foundation appealed to the general public for support to help him pay his fine for his release and also help him enroll in school.

Crime Check Foundation spends time with prison inmates in a one-on-one conversation to hear their stories and find ways to promote their well-being. Such interviews are used to caution the public about the dangers of crime.