63-year-old lady, her two daughters and her grandchild of about 6 months have been jailed 3 months each for stealing maize.
Narrating their sordid experience, the woman said they did not have money to feed on the said day and that pushed them to move to the farm to take some maize they could feed on.
However, luck eluded them on the day and they were caught by a caretaker of the farm who took them to the Police at Adeiso in the Eastern Region.
The 63-year-old woman said at the Police station, the Police demanded GHC 600 so the case is dropped but they could not get that amount. A family member who heard of their issue was able to raise GHC 300 to get the Police off their back.
However, the owner of the farm upon hearing the incident decided to press charges against the old woman and her children.
The woman said she and her daughters were arraigned and were sentenced to six months but a good Samaritan pleaded with the Judge to reduce the sentence because the women had children and because if the age of the mother.
Although they had already paid GHC 300 to save themselves, the woman said she could not have asked the Police why they were going to be jailed and the monies paid not refunded.
She and her daughters are currently serving a jail term.
“I was afraid to tell the Judge that we had paid monies to the police to end the case. We told the Judge that it was out of hunger we went to the farm to get the maize but he said since we were there to steal the maize, he had no option but to jail us,” the 63 years old woman is heard telling crime check tv in an interview.
