The Supreme Court has granted Ghc800,000 in compensation to Yaw Appiah, a bar owner who was unjustly convicted and imprisoned. Appiah, who is curre
The Supreme Court has granted Ghc800,000 in compensation to Yaw Appiah, a bar owner who was unjustly convicted and imprisoned.
Appiah, who is currently 48 years old, received a 45-year sentence in 2011 for robbery.
He had previously spent five years in custody after his arrest in 2006.
He spent approximately 19 years in prison before the Court of Appeal acquitted and released him in March 2025, calling his conviction a “tragedy”.
Following his release, his attorneys, Augustine Obour and Claudia Coleman, submitted a request for compensation, seeking more than Ghc2 million according to their estimates.
The prosecution, however, requested a reduced range of between Ghc75,000 and Ghc100,000.
A five-member panel of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Avril Lovelace-Johnson, determined that an amount of Ghc800,000 was suitable, referencing legal principles from the Dodzi Sabbah case.
Many Ghanaians are not happy with the ruling as they think the compensation is too low.
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