The Supreme Court has awarded GH¢800,000 in compensation to Yaw Appiah, a bar owner who was wrongly convicted of robbery and spent almost two decades in prison before his acquittal.

The ruling, delivered on 10 February 2026, marks a significant decision on wrongful conviction and state liability for miscarriage of justice.

A five-member panel led by Justice Avril Lovelace-Johnson made the award after finding that Appiah had endured a wrongful conviction and prolonged imprisonment. The panel also included Justices Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Samuel Asiedu, Yaw Darko Asare and Kweku Tawiah Ackaah-Boafo.

Appiah’s ordeal began in 2006 when he was arrested. He remained on remand for five years before being convicted in 2011, at the age of 29, and sentenced to 45 years in prison for robbery.

That conviction did not stand.

In March 2025, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision and acquitted him, describing the case as a tragedy. By then, he had already spent about 19 years at Nsawam Prison.

Following his release, Appiah turned to the Supreme Court for redress, seeking compensation under Article 14(5) and (7) of the 1992 Constitution, which provides for remedies in cases involving unlawful detention and wrongful conviction.

His lawyers, Augustine Obour and Claudia Coleman, asked the court to award GH¢2,020,800. The State, represented by Principal State Attorney Nana Adoma Osei, argued for a much lower figure, proposing compensation in the range of GH¢75,000 to GH¢100,000.

The Supreme Court ultimately settled on GH¢800,000.

In arriving at that figure, the court said it was guided by existing legal precedent, including principles drawn from the Dodzi Sabbah case.

The ruling stands as one of the clearest judicial acknowledgements of the human cost of wrongful imprisonment, and reinforces the constitutional power of the Supreme Court to grant compensation where convictions are later set aside.

Source: DL News