Why Court of Appeal Acquitted and discharged jailed Assemblyman in Major Mahama murder case

The Court of Appeal has overturned the conviction of William Baah, the former Assembly Member for Denkyira Obuasi, who had been serving a life sentence for allegedly abetting the killing of Major Maxwell Adam Mahama.

The three-judge panel, delivering its unanimous ruling on Thursday, 20 November, concluded that serious legal missteps occurred during the original trial, rendering the guilty verdict improper.

Key Finding: Jury Was Misled

According to the appellate judges, the trial judge—Justice Mariama Owusu, then a Supreme Court Justice sitting with High Court authority—misdirected the jury, an error they said critically influenced the outcome.

Faulty Reliance on Co-Accused Statements

Central to the ruling was the High Court’s use of cautioned statements made by two co-accused persons which pointed to Baah’s alleged involvement.

The Court of Appeal held that:

A caution statement incriminating another accused can only be relied upon if made in the presence of the implicated person.

Such statements are admissible only against the person who made them, not a co-accused.

The trial judge was therefore required to disregard those statements when guiding the jury.

The panel also found that the two statements in question were riddled with inconsistencies and carried “suspicious elements,” further weakening their evidential value.

With these findings, the Court of Appeal ruled that Baah’s conviction could not stand, ordering his immediate release.

Baah had been one of several individuals prosecuted following the 2017 lynching of Major Mahama, an incident that shocked the nation and led to sweeping public condemnation.