A former Assembly Member at Denkyira Obuasi in the Central Region, William Baah, who was sentenced to life imprisonment on the charge of abetting the murder of Major Maxwell Adam Mahama, has been freed by the Court of Appeal. 

In a unanimous judgement on Thursday, November 20, the three-member panel held that the trial judge, Justice Mariama Owusu, then Justice of the Supreme Court, sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court Judge, misdirected the jury to arrive at a guilty verdict for the assemblyman. 

“The midsection of the High Court judge was grave. The jury would not have returned a verdict of guilt if they had been properly directed,” the court held.

Specifically, the court held that the court erred when it relied on the cautioned statements of two of the accused persons incriminating the assemblyman.

The court was of the view that the cautioned statement of an accused person which implicated another accused person should be made in the presence of the one the statement implicates, adding that the cautioned statement could only be used against the accused person making the statement and not a co-accused. 

“The Judge was bound to disregard the incriminating statements when directing the jury,” the court said. 

In addition to this, the court held that the statements of two of the accused persons, which the court relied on, were full of inconsistencies and suspicions.