The Court of Appeal has overturned the life sentence of William Baah, former Assembly Member for Denkyira Obuasi, who was convicted of abetting the 2017 lynching of military officer Major Maxwell Adam Mahama.
The three-member panel, chaired by Justice Christopher Archer, ruled unanimously that the trial judge, Justice Mariama Owusu, misdirected the jury, resulting in a wrongful conviction.
The court found that the High Court had improperly relied on cautioned statements from other accused persons implicating Baah and that the evidence presented was insufficient to establish his role in abetment.
In January 2024, a seven-member High Court jury had found Baah and 11 others guilty over the mob killing of Major Mahama. Baah was convicted of abetment of murder, while eight of the others were convicted of murder and conspiracy. Two accused were acquitted.
The prosecution had argued that Baah mobilized the mob after receiving unverified reports that Major Mahama, while jogging near Denkyira Obuasi, had a sidearm visible at his waist.
The military officer was subsequently attacked near the Denkyira Obuasi cemetery, beaten with clubs, cement blocks, and machetes, and part of his body was burned.
The Court of Appeal emphasized that testimonies from other accused and prosecution witnesses did not provide sufficient evidence linking Baah to the crime and noted that the lynching had begun before he allegedly returned to the scene.
The panel acquitted and discharged him, underscoring that justice must be served based on the evidence.
Baah, who broke down in tears during the ruling, had argued on appeal that the trial lacked sufficient facts to justify his conviction and that the jury had been misdirected regarding the legal definition of abetment under Ghana’s Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
The court’s decision reaffirms the principle that convictions must rest on clear, admissible evidence and that errors in jury direction can render a verdict unsafe, even in cases involving serious crimes such as mob lynching.
