A fifty-year-old man has recounted circumstances that led him to prison with a heartbreaking revelation that he was imprisoned because he stole three bunches of plantain.

Narrating his ordeal to the Crime Check Foundation (CCF), Mr Kwesi Kyere, who prior to the incident in a community at Akyem Begoro in the Eastern Region, recounted that he had visited the farm of a labourer who use to work for an auntie to harvest some crops.

During his harvest, he trespassed into the farm of another farmer, Mr Pobi (not his real name) and harvested some yields from the farm, unaware of the territorial boundaries. However, in the process, he was approached by the labourer of his auntie and cautioned against plucking the crops from the other farm.

“Sometimes I go to the farm to harvest crops. I harvest cocoyam and other yields. I sell some and keep the rest for personal use. So one day the labourer met me harvesting from the other farm and he told me that was not part of his territory and that it belonged to someone else.I told him I didn't know about that and he warned me to stay away from that farm and he led me home,” he said.

According to Mr Kyere, Mr Pobi was not around at the time of the incident, “but three days later when he returned he marched straight to my house.”

Mr Kyere recalled that it was at the break of dawn, approximately 4:30 am, when he found himself faced with an unexpected and distressing situation.

Pobi, accompanied by his wife, arrived at his doorstep, gripping him tightly and forcibly leading him to the nearby police station. Despite Mr Kyere's willingness to make amends and offer compensation, the absence of someone to act as his bail resulted in his unfortunate incarceration.

“I wanted to pay back. I didn’t have the money but then I owned a land and I was willing to sell it and pay any compensation but to no avail,” he said. He was sentenced to an eight (8) year jail term.

Mr Kyere is not the first to be jailed for this kind of crime. In August 2014 a Tarkwa Circuit Court sentenced Dominic Owusu, a 50-year-old electrician, to five years imprisonment with hard labour for stealing three bunches of plantain.

In December last year, a 24-year-old unemployed man was also sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for stealing cassava and plantain. In December the same year, a 57-year-old 'hungry' man was jailed for stealing two bunches of plantain. These incarceration has led to calls for the decriminisation of petty crimes in the country.