The Supreme Court has awarded compensation of GH¢800,000 to Yaw Appiah, a bar owner who was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to 45 years.
On March 7, 2025, Starrfm.com.gh broke the story of Yaw Appiah, reporting that the Court of Appeal had acquitted and discharged Appiah, a 48-year-old drinking bar owner, after he had wrongfully served 19 years in prison for an offence he did not commit.
Appiah was convicted and sentenced for 45 years in 2011, when he was 29 years old for robbery. But, prior to his conviction, he had spent five years on remand upon his arrest in 2006.
After spending nearly 20 years in Nsawam Prison since 2006, the Court of Appeal delivered justice and described his conviction and subsequent sentencing as a “tragedy.”
Following his acquittal, his lawyers, Augustines Obour and Claudia Coleman, filed an application at the apex court for compensation.
In their request, the applicant, Appiah, asked for compensation of GH¢2,020,800 with a detailed calculation.
However, the prosecution, led by Nana Adoma Osei, a Principal State Attorney, proposed a sum between GH¢75,000 and GH¢100,000.
The five-member Supreme Court panel, presided over by Justice Avril Lovelace-Johnson, was of the considered view that, taking a cue from the case law principle in Dodzi Sabbah, GH¢800,000 would be adequate compensation.
The panel, which also included Justice Prof. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Justice Samuel Asiedu, Justice Yaw Darko Asare, and Justice Kweku Tawiah Ackaah-Boafo, gave the order for compensation for wrongful conviction on February 10, 2026.
READ: Bar owner, 48, acquitted, discharged after wrongfully serving 19yrs in Nsawam
The applicant filed the application under Article 14(5) and (7) of the 1992 Constitution for compensation for wrongful conviction and imprisonment.
The said constitutional provisions read as follows: Article 14(5): “A person who is unlawfully arrested, restricted or detained by any other person shall be entitled to compensation from that other person.”
Article 14(7) states: “Where a person who has served the whole or a part of his sentence is acquitted on appeal by a court, other than the Supreme Court, the court may certify to the Supreme Court that the person acquitted be paid compensation; and the Supreme Court may, upon examination of all the facts and the certificate of the court concerned, award such compensation as it may think fit; or, where the acquittal is by the Supreme Court, it may order compensation to be paid to the person acquitted.”
Visit here to read the full story on Yaw Appiah first published on starrfm.com.gh on March 7, 2025.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
