Major Mahama case: No evidence linking Assemblyman to murder – Lawyer

George Bernard Shaw, lawyer for William Baah, the former Assembly Member for Denkyira Obuasi, says the Court of Appeal’s decision has affirmed that there was no evidence his client assisted or encouraged anyone in the lynching of the late Major Maxwell Mahama. His remarks follow the court’s ruling on Thursday, November 20, which overturned Baah’s conviction. Baah had been serving a life sentence after being found guilty of abetting Major Mahama’s murder in 2017. A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal unanimously held that the trial judge, Justice Mariama Owusu—then sitting as a High Court judge—misdirected the jury, leading to a wrongful guilty verdict. According to the ruling, the misdirection was so critical that “the jury would not have returned a verdict of guilt if they had been properly directed.” The court also found that the High Court erred by relying on cautioned statements from two accused persons that implicated Baah, noting that the trial judge should have excluded those statements when instructing the jury. These errors, the panel said, were substantial enough to invalidate the conviction. Speaking on Eyewitness News with Sammie Wiafe, Shaw insisted that the evidence presented during the trial did not support the charge of abetment. “There was no evidence to show that he either assisted, helped, encouraged or commanded anybody to do the unfortunate thing that they did,” he said. “The charges couldn’t stand. There was a misdirection from the judge… It has been rectified. He’s very free.” Shaw extended condolences to the family of Major Mahama, stressing that no one deserved to die through mob action. He added that the other accused persons, who faced direct murder charges, were the individuals who inflicted the fatal blows on the late soldier. The ruling represents a major development in a case that shocked the nation and intensified calls for stronger action against mob violence. In January 2024, a seven-member jury at the High Court in Accra found Baah and 11 others guilty over the 2017 mob killing of Major Mahama. Baah was convicted of abetment of murder. Eleven others, including Bernard Asamoah, Kofi Nyame, Akwasi Baah and Kwame Tuffuor, were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. Eight of them were additionally found guilty of murder. Two accused persons, Bismark Donkor and Bismarck Abanga, were acquitted and discharged. https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaCYzPRAYlUPudDDe53x