Crime Check Foundation (CCF) has urged the general public to treat with contempt a widely circulated reportage, which claims a juvenile has been jailed for stealing twenty Ghana cedis.

It had been reported on various media platforms the imprisonment of a 15-year-old Emmanuel Adom Frimpong for stealing a kenkey seller’s twenty Ghana cedis.

The reports suggested the teenager who was supposed to have been sent to the Senior Correctional Centre (SCC) is still serving his sentence at the Kumasi Central Prison.

The story, which was from an interview Crime Check Foundation had with Adom Frimpong in 2019, garnered public criticism questioning the competence of Ghana’s criminal justice system.

After several calls made to the Foundation on the issue, CCF has released a press statement to state the facts of the story.

According to the statement signed by its Executive Director, Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, the widely circulated reportage is a misrepresentation of the facts and must be disregarded.

The statement indicated that Crime Check Foundation met Adom Frimpong at the Kumasi Central Prison in 2019 during its Time With the Prisoner series.

It said the juvenile’s age was allegedly increased to 18 instead of 15 by the CID officer handling his case. Adom was subsequently given a two-year sentence to serve in an adult prison.

He, per the statement, was later sent to the Senior Correctional Centre (SCC) after his sentence was appealed by a good Samaritan.

“This, Adom Frimpong confirmed, when he told CCF he is 15 but the CID rather wrote 18 as his age despite his protestations.

The former Deputy Managing Director of the State Housing Company, Roni Nicol appealed his sentence after contacting Crime Check Foundation.

In his ruling, the presiding judge instructed that the juvenile be sent to the Senior Correctional Centre (SCC) and reportedly gave the little boy money for transportation, the statement said.

“Adom Frimpong has since served his sentence at the SCC and left the correctional facility three years ago.

It is therefore not true that Adom Frimpong stole a kenkey seller’s twenty Ghana cedis, neither is he still in prison custody,” the statement clarified.

Read full statement below.