I Was Misrepresented as Ataa Ayi’s Accomplice Because I Was His Mechanic- Ex-convict

As a mechanic with a shop at Krowor in the Greater Accra Region, Yaw Asante Agyekum says he had numerous clients among which included notorious armed robber, Ataa Ayi.

He admitted that he knew Ataa Ayi before the incident as a taxi driver.

“The truth is that I know him. He was a taxi driver who used to come to my shop for servicing…When someone comes to you for your service as a fitter, you don’t ask what they do.”

The convict who on June 5, 2025, secured a judgement from the Court of Appeal, annulling his 2010 conviction of robbery, said he was thus misrepresented as his accomplice and arrested while at church by the police 20 years ago.

He said this was at a time he had travelled to Kwahu to see his mother who had taken up ill.

“My mother was sick so I went to see her in Kwahu. I was in church when I was arrested for robbery. The law enforcement agencies didn’t believe in my innocence. I was remanded for eight years before I was jailed in 2010 for 30 years,” he told journalists after the new verdict.

Reflecting on the ravages of the miscarriage of justice he had suffered, Agyekum said his shop had folded up while the bond with his kids had grown loose.

“I had a fitting shop which has since folded up. At the time I had a son and a one-month-old daughter. I always prayed that the truth would come out. I never robbed anyone. I was never engaged in robbery.”

That notwithstanding he stood grateful to the legal institution of the country.

“They have been fair. They have investigated and affirmed my innocence.”

The three-member panel at the Court of Appeal, held that Agyekum could not be linked to the many robberies carried out by Ataa Ayi and that the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence to warrant conviction and sentence, Graphic reports.

Source: https://opemsuo.com/author/hajara-fuseini/