Supreme Court awards GH¢800,000 compensation to bar owner wrongfully jailed for 19 years in Ghana

Josephine Amuzu 12:36 - 27 April 2026

The Supreme Court has awarded GH¢800,000 in compensation to a Ghanaian bar owner who spent 19 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted, following his acquittal by the Court of Appeal due to lack of evidence.

The Supreme Court has awarded GH¢800,000 in compensation to Yaw Appiah, a bar owner who was wrongfully jailed for 19 years over a robbery conviction later overturned.
The Court of Appeal earlier acquitted him in January 2025, ruling that there was no direct or circumstantial evidence linking him to the crime and describing his conviction as a “tragedy.”
Appiah had spent nearly 20 years in prison, including five years on remand, before his lawyers secured his release and successfully sought compensation under constitutional provisions.

The Supreme Court has awarded GH¢800,000 in compensation to a 48-year-old bar owner, Yaw Appiah, who spent nearly two decades in prison for a robbery he did not commit.

The compensation ruling, delivered on February 10, 2026, followed his earlier acquittal by the Court of Appeal, which overturned his conviction after finding that there was no evidence linking him to the crime.

Yaw Appiah had been convicted in 2011 by the High Court and sentenced to 45 years in prison for robbery, despite maintaining his innocence. Before his conviction, he had already spent five years on remand after his arrest in 2006. In total, he spent almost 20 years at Nsawam Prison.

His legal battle took a turning point when lawyer Claudia Coleman took up his case and pursued an appeal on his behalf. On January 30, 2025, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, presided over by Justice Gbiel S. Suurbaareh and supported by Justices Eric K. Baffour and Samuel Obeng-Diawuo, set aside his conviction.

In its judgment, the court of appeal ruled that the prosecution had failed to meet the legal standard required for a criminal conviction. The panel stated, “The evidence on record had not met the threshold of reasonable doubt to have merited conviction of the appellant.”

According to report by starrfm.com, the judges further emphasised that “there was no direct evidence that connected the appellant with the crime and there was also no circumstantial evidence that linked the appellant to the crime for which he was convicted.”

The court also highlighted significant errors in the trial proceedings, noting that the trial judge wrongly recorded that Appiah had pleaded guilty, when records showed he had not. Witness accounts were also misinterpreted, leading to conclusions that were unsupported by the evidence presented.

Describing the situation as deeply unfortunate, the court of appeal concluded, “It is a tragedy that this appellant had been in custody since 2006 for a crime which there was no evidence to link him.” The judges added, “It is better late than never and we proceed to do the needful by setting aside the conviction as being erroneous.”

Following his release, his lawyers, Augustines Obour and Claudia Coleman, filed an application at the Supreme Court seeking financial compensation for the wrongful conviction and imprisonment.

The legal team initially requested GH¢2,020,800, presenting detailed calculations to justify the amount. However, the prosecution, led by Principal State Attorney Nana Adoma Osei, argued that compensation between GH¢75,000 and GH¢100,000 would be reasonable.

After reviewing the facts, the five-member Supreme Court panel, chaired by Justice Avril Lovelace-Johnson, ruled that GH¢800,000 was an appropriate compensation amount. The panel relied on legal precedent, referencing established case law to determine the figure.

The panel also included Justices Prof. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Samuel Asiedu, Yaw Darko Asare, and Kweku Tawiah Ackaah-Boafo.

The application for compensation was filed under Article 14(5) and Article 14(7) of the 1992 Constitution, which provide for financial compensation to individuals who have been unlawfully detained or wrongfully convicted and later acquitted.

Background to the Case

The case dates back to January 2, 2006, when businessman Richard Kwakye, his wife Theresa Kwakye, and their children were returning home after seeing off a relative at the airport. As they approached their residence around 9:30 p.m., they noticed a group of young men near their gate.

According to prosecution records, the complainant was attacked with machetes and other weapons, and the attackers made away with five mobile phones and money in both Ghana cedis and foreign currency. Investigators later traced some of the stolen mobile phone numbers, which eventually led to the arrest of several suspects, including Appiah.

Some of the accused persons allegedly mentioned his name during investigations, forming part of the basis for his conviction. However, during the appeal, the Court of Appeal ruled that the prosecution’s case relied on weak and unreliable evidence.

The judges concluded that the prosecution had failed to establish even a prima facie case against Appiah, meaning he should never have been called to defend himself during the trial.

After nearly two decades in custody, Appiah’s conviction was overturned, bringing an end to what the Court of Appeal described as a grave miscarriage of justice.

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